Damaged Bodies, Growing Lives, Building Families
by StarLight Massacre
Summary: Harry's painstakingly rebuilt world is destroyed again; then he meet's Clint Barton, the sharp eyed archer from the renowned Avengers team. Left broken and pregnant, can he be put back together again? Does he even want to be fixed after everything he's been subjected to or will his love for his baby and the support of the Avengers pull him through the very lowest point of his life?
1. Negligence and Breathing Exercises

Author: StarLight Massacre

Title: Damaged Bodies, Growing Lives, Building Families.

Rating: R

Warning: Slash, violence, M/M, language, blood, Mpreg, Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, knotting, graphic torture and dubious consent (One scene only)

Pairing: Clinton Barton/Harry Potter

Summary: Harry's painstakingly rebuilt world is destroyed once again; then he meet's Clint Barton, the sharp eyed archer from the renowned Avengers team. Left broken and pregnant, can he be put back together again? Does he even want to be fixed after everything he's been subjected to? Or will his love for his baby and the support of the Avengers pull him through the very lowest point of his life?

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter or the Marvel universe; all rights go to J. K. Rowling and Marvel comics. I make no money for this piece of fictional writing and never will.

* * *

Damaged Bodies, Growing Lives, Building Families

Chapter One – Negligence and Breathing Exercises

Harry James Potter, aged twenty, sighed once again as he scratched his forehead lightly. He stared at the open folder in irritation. He didn't want to be here, least of all after hours, but then if he had wanted a nice, normal nine to five job, he wouldn't have chosen to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Nothing with S.H.I.E.L.D, standing for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, was ever normal and perhaps it was that that let Harry fit right in.

His watch clicked over to eleven at night and he sighed, which was partly a groan of frustration and annoyance. He hated top secret information that required his immediate attention. Well, strictly it wasn't _his_ attention it required, but his superior's, but as the man was disgustingly lazy, he delegated it to Harry, even though Harry was very sure his eyes were not supposed to be looking at this information. He was a very young, junior agent, who wasn't even legal to drink in this country, no, he was very sure this folder wasn't meant for his eyes, or any of the other folders that had been delegated to him in the past.

Turning the page he nibbled on the end of his pen as he read, moving his notepad closer to him before bending over it to scribble some notes in preparation for his final report, which had to be on his superior's desk by seven in the morning. He smothered a yawn behind his hand, his third in as many minutes. Twenty years old he might be, but he was suffering from the barrage of consecutive very late nights and the even earlier mornings, coffee and potions could only help him so much and he was sure his health was deteriorating because of it. Madam Pomfrey would have flayed him alive.

Thinking of the stern, yet kindly matron brought back memories that Harry would much rather forget, of a time he would much rather forget. He swallowed the painful memories of the war and subconsciously rubbed his left hip, where a permanent scar remained as an unforgiving, painful reminder to all that had happened and all that he had lost. The war had taken everything from him; everything but his own life and sometimes he wished fervently that that hadn't been the case. He would have gladly swapped places with every single person who had died at Hogwarts that day, after everything had been finished and the dust had settled and the cost of the war became apparent, he wished it had ended differently, if not for those who were already dead, then for himself. He wished that he had had the mercy of joining them.

Clenching a hand and forcing his mind to go blank, Harry sighed heavily as he realised he had been lost in thought for twenty minutes and he still had a quarter of the last folder to still read through. Pulling a disgusted face he started once more from the top of the page, having forgotten what he had previously read, jotting down relevant notes and paragraphs to do the write up report for his superior to hand over to his superiors so that it looked like the man had actually done some work in his life. Harry snorted at that thought, since he had arrived here as a fresh eyed intern a year and a half ago, he had immediately been bullied and roped into doing jobs and reports that he knew he wasn't even cleared to know existed, let alone be allowed to read through every scrap of Intel S.H.I.E.L.D had on whatever top secret project his superior was supposed to be doing that month.

Leaning back to stretch out his aching muscles, Harry took a quick gulp of cool coffee, not even caring that it tasted foul when it was warm, let alone almost stone cold, he just needed something to wake him up as much as possible, before he started reading once more, smothering yet another yawn.

Harry had not made very many friends since he had come to America, and it wasn't any wonder really, he had come only a few months after the war had ended and he hadn't felt much like socialising with anyone at that time; yet as soon as he decided that perhaps it might do him more good to spend a few hours out of the house that he had been holed up in for months on end by getting a small intern job, rather than staying cooped up and miserable all day, he ended up overworking himself every single day to the point of collapse sometimes, which again left him absolutely no time to socialise outside of a few polite greetings to his colleagues.

It was hard not having any real human contact and he was lonely, he would finish work very late, likely in the early hours of the morning, he would go back to an empty house that he didn't see enough of to call his home, to get a few hours' sleep in a bed too big and cold for just him and he would be back in work for seven. It was even harder because he was a confirmed, classified Omega, he wanted human contact, preferably from an Alpha, but a Beta would do, hell even another Omega would do, he just wanted someone to talk to, someone to touch, it didn't have to be sexual.

Closing his eyes he breathed deeply, he didn't know what was wrong with him today, he was more distracted than usual and it would mean he would be here for much longer if he didn't get a lid on it. It was probably due to the fact that this week would have been his preheat week, if he hadn't been religiously taking the suppressants that were required of all Omega S.H.I.E.L.D agents he would be having a heat period in the coming few weeks. Unfortunately he could only take the short term suppressants, the ones that didn't have Tarcolite Ormeloxirone in them, which meant that every single long term suppressant was unavailable to him and he had to remember to swallow his suppressant tablet every single week, at near enough the same time no less, or he wouldn't be protected, a far cry from the simple injection which would have protected him from bimonthly heats, as well as his week of preheat, for an entire year that the other Omega agents were required to have.

Growling at himself and his scatter brain, Harry forced himself to once again put pen to paper after a check of his watch revealed that it was now twenty minutes to midnight, at this rate he wouldn't be getting out of here until gone three, god forbid he have another night like the week before, where he had finished his reading research for his final report at quarter past five and realised that if he walked home like he usually did he would barely get his foot in the door before having to come back to work, so he had curled up under his jacket, under his desk and not for the first time either.

A superior agent he didn't know, had never worked with, and was very sure he had never seen before, named Agent Coulson had smiled kindly at him when Harry had emerged from under his desk early the next morning, very tousled, rumpled and tired, and went searching the break room for the strongest coffee he could find. An hour later Harry had returned to his tiny office to find a very large, very hot, very strong take away cup of premium coffee on his desk. He had smiled and seized the gift, likely from the mysterious Agent Coulson, with both hands and devoured the coffee as he set to work once again on his research and reading after only two hours of sleep.

Harry smiled as he remembered the kind Agent and wished he had a superior like that, he doubted very much that Agent Coulson would have clocked off early, leaving his junior agent to stay in the office all night, doing reports that he should be doing personally and leaving very sensitive, top secret information in the hands of a junior agent who was only twenty years old. It was a good thing that Harry was neither incompetent, out to destroy the world, or to sell highly sensitive, top secret defence plans to belligerent countries.

The thought had passed through his mind several times that S.H.I.E.L.D was testing his trustworthiness with false leads and fake plans to see what he would do with that sort of information in his hands, but it had been over a year now, surely they wouldn't _still_ be testing him? But he wouldn't put it past the upper brass to be doing exactly that, but what kind of idiot did they take him for? Did they honestly expect him to believe that they handed all of their interns top secret defence plans for the country, schematics of new, prototype weaponry and floor plans of undercover S.H.I.E.L.D buildings? Surely no government agency was that stupid? Even the most moronic of interns would have smelt a trap and legged it.

Cursing himself again as his watch clicked over to midnight, Harry resigned himself to staying all night once again. He hated the temporary suppressant tablets; sometimes he fully believed that it would mess him up less to just let him have a week's holiday and let his body go onto its natural heat period, but then that brought up the whole preheat period he was currently stuck in, which only happened with the temporary tablets because his life was never easy, and the whole, if he found an Alpha he could get pregnant thing, because of course the same ingredient he was intolerant to was also in all the emergency contraceptive tablets, because his luck was just that bad.

Scribbling more important notes down, Harry was forced to stop as a huge yawn forced his eyes closed, which then watered when he opened them again. It had been a long week, hell it had been a long month and he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up for. This past year was nothing if not intolerable, people couldn't live on just a few hours of sleep every night, they couldn't, it was impossible, but somehow, a year on, he was still doing it and still letting his superior reap all the benefits of his hard, exhausting work.

Tugging on his hair to wake himself up a bit, Harry turned the page and read a bit, before stopping to take notes, before carrying on. It was two in the morning before he finished the final folder and he pushed it aside, had a quick stretch while lamenting his long empty coffee cup, before he pulled the official report book towards him, opening it to the first page and taking a steadying breath, he couldn't make a single mistake or he'd end up having to write the entire report again in a fresh booklet, of which he only had two left to last him next month as well, the worst mistake he had made had been a few months back, when he had rushed the end of the report to get home earlier and he had made a huge mistake on the very last page of his report, or rather the report his superior should have been writing himself, and he had had to start all over again from the beginning. That had been the first time Harry had had to stay in the S.H.I.E.L.D building overnight and much to his frustration, it was becoming more of the norm over finishing on time and getting to go home with all the other agents.

Thankfully Harry did not make any mistakes in his report this time and he breathed out a sigh of relief, leaving the signature area of the report booklet blank for his superior to sign in the morning, he checked his watch and let out a part groan, part sigh as he saw it was gone half five in the morning, far too late to even bother wasting the energy walking home.

Dragging his jacket morosely from the back of his chair, Harry set his watch for seven in the morning before he slipped under his desk and covered himself as best as he could with his jacket, wishing that S.H.I.E.L.D had had the forethought to get a plusher carpet for their main office Headquarters so that maybe he wouldn't be completely uncomfortable as he tried to rest on it. Harry was asleep almost before he finished finding a relatively comfy position on the floor, completely forgetting that he wasn't even supposed to have been in work that day or the following day, never knowing that several floors above him, there was another, more senior agent, awake also, watching him through the security cameras that liberally littered the building.

* * *

Harry was woken up by the alarm he had set on his watch only an hour and ten minutes later and he groaned pathetically, dragging himself out from under his desk, holding onto his jacket as he crawled to his feet using his chair.

He blinked owlishly around himself, automatically falling into his lifelong habit of trying to flatten his hair fruitlessly, before he slipped his rumpled jacket on, picked up his finished report and the folders and case files that contained the information he had written it from and carried them into his superior's office, leaving them in the middle of the desk neatly before heading to the nearest bathroom to clean himself up a bit, before making a beeline to the break room and hunting for something, anything, to wake him up and make him feel less dead.

He ignored the other agent in the break room until he spoke to him, making Harry peer closely at the man and realise it was senior Agent Coulson, the kind man who had given him that gourmet coffee a week ago.

"Another all-nighter, Agent Potter?" The man tsked. "Here, have a blueberry muffin, you must be hungry."

Harry stared longingly at the coffee he was waiting to drip through the percolator, before obeying the older, more experienced agent.

"You don't want that swill, here." Agent Coulson pushed another very large takeaway coffee cup towards him and Harry was ashamed at how fast and greedily he fell on it and the blueberry muffin that was handed to him from the paper bag. It was with a pang of realisation that he remembered that the last time he had eaten anything was two days before, he hadn't left his office at all over the last two days except to get more coffee, for bathroom breaks and to go home to get a few hours' sleep before coming back to the office, he hadn't once thought of food in that time.

"Thank you Sir." He replied sincerely and gratefully.

The man gave him such a kind, understanding smile that it forced an answering, if tired smile from Harry, who took out a couple of crumpled notes from his pocket to give the man, who waved him away.

"It's more than alright." Agent Coulson explained. "The coffee was from my usual place and they regularly give me free cups and the muffins were from a friend. I can't say I'm fond of blueberry though, so perhaps you could do me the favour of eating the rest?"

Harry got the feeling that the Agent was not being truthful, but before he could decline, Agent Coulson was gone with a polite goodbye, leaving the bag of tempting muffins just sitting on the table. Harry knew that as soon as his colleagues arrived, there would be none left for Agent Coulson anyway, so he took them with a smile at one man's kindness and generosity and hived them off, along with the coffee, to hide in his office, which he saw more of than anywhere else, waiting for his boss to come in, sign the report he had worked all night on and had read and researched about for the last month, as his own, hand it into his superiors and collect another top secret project for Harry to slave over for the next month. He didn't even realise that his scrap pile of notes from his last project had vanished from his desk.

* * *

Agent Phil Coulson reported to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury's, office and slipped the several pieces of paper that he had asked for onto the desk in front of the man's hands.

He immediately picked them up and scanned through them, picking up the first report booklet on the large stack to the right of him and opening it to a random page. He snorted at what he found, comparing the handwriting with disgust as he realised the small, neat, slightly cursive letters matched, he pulled another report booklet from the pile on his left and opened it to another random page and compared it to the scrap paper he held in his opposite hand, his face turning to thunder as again the letters matched. He dug in the pile of report booklets until he found the one that was dated as the oldest, fourteen months ago and flipped it open. His hands clenched automatically as again the handwriting from senior Agent Bartholomew Nasri's report booklets matched the handwriting of the most junior agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, Harry James Potter, a twenty year old young man who last year had been an introductory intern! As one last test he pulled out a report book, this time from a pile on his right, dated two years ago, before Agent Potter had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. The messy, indecipherably smudged, overly large letters mocked him from the page.

"You were right." Fury growled to Coulson. "He's been making the junior Agent write every single report, putting the safety of this entire country at risk! Handing him top secret, sensitive and potentially dangerous information freely! This was for his eyes only, who knows what that man could have leaked out due to his inertia."

"I thought it was odd." Coulson replied calmly. "A junior Agent's work load isn't strenuous enough to keep them here overnight, for any reason. My only regret is that I didn't pick up on it sooner; Agent Potter has been looking terrible for months now. I assumed problems at home and didn't like to pry, but when I found he had slept in the building overnight, I investigated further and found that it hadn't been the first time. I have reviewed all relevant security footage and I believe that Agent Nasri has been making Agent Potter read all the case files handed to him as well as writing up all the final reports, he doesn't seem to have done any of the work handed to him himself since Agent Potter arrived at the agency."

"I can see that Agent Coulson." Fury snapped, slapping the report booklet back on top of the pile. "How was this able to happen?!"

"It seems that as a senior Agent, Bartholomew was assumed to have been doing his job correctly and following protocol to the letter, no one questioned him or his habits. I have been asking around the department and some of the agents didn't know there was an Agent Potter in their department. Those who did know of him said he was a hermit and took keeping himself to himself to a new level. Some believed he was just a very unsociable, very private man and didn't bother him, others thought it was because they were Alphas or strong Betas and that he didn't want to mix with them because he's an Omega, they didn't want to invoke the agency's harsh policy on Omega harassment, so they left him alone, though they admit that it is hard to leave him be when he slips into a preheat, his increased production of pheromones distract them and they didn't want to tempt themselves by getting closer."

Fury scrubbed his face in anger and frustration.

"As soon as Nasri is in this building, I want him in this office!" He bit out, looking through the booklets to see what information Potter had at his disposal. He did not like what he saw and his mouth pulled into a snarl. "These are very dangerous topics for a twenty year old, junior agent to have in his possession! If anyone at all finds out that Agent Potter has such an extensive, in depth knowledge on these topics then our enemies have found our weak link!"

"No one in his department knew what he was working on or that he was doing his superior's work and not his own, I will look into it more and dig deeper to see if there is any whisper that any agent, secretary or cleaner in this building had knowledge of what Agent Potter was doing or suspect at what knowledge he has, until we can be sure, I suggest a subtle twenty-four hour protection detail for Agent Potter, just to be safe."

Fury nodded and breathed in deeply and laced his fingers together tightly. How this had been going on in _his_ agency building for eighteen or so months without his knowledge he had no idea and it made him even angrier. If anything happened to Agent Potter now as a result of this foolish neglect it would fall squarely on his shoulders as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D and he couldn't let that happen.

A staticky female voice over the intercom on his desk had him mentally preparing himself for battle; he wouldn't allow his senior agents to exploit his junior agents in such a way. Agent Nasri had endangered Agent Potter's life and put the security of America under threat and until they knew for certain that Agent Potter wasn't in any danger, he would have to be put on a full protection detail.

'_Agent Nasri is in the building Director Fury._' His secretary's voice came over the intercom.

Fury pressed the button on the intercom device and replied to the woman on the other end. "Thank you Heather, have Agent Nasri come immediately to my office."

Fury sat back and calmed himself, he wanted to interrogate the agent first, he wanted to know what the agent thought he was doing passing such folders of information to any junior agent he wished, though what got him more was that Agent Potter had been an _intern_ when he had first started writing these final reports. What sort of bumbling, lazy bastard got his department's _intern_ to write his final reports on information that had trustingly been handed to him as a long standing senior agent which had been for his eyes only!

A knock on his office door had Fury calling out a neutral grant of permission to enter and Bartholomew Nasri came into the room, all smiles and genial happiness. He had another report booklet in his hands, the same report booklet that Agent Potter had spent the entire night writing out and had left on his desk that morning.

"This is a surprise Director Fury; usually I leave my final reports with your lovely deputy, Maria."

"You have done such a brilliant job with your reports over the past year that I wanted to congratulate you for taking my advice and putting more effort into them. You obviously took our talk a few years ago to heart, your reports are fuller and contain everything that's needed and are never a minute late."

Agent Nasri puffed up at the praise and handed the newest final report booklet over and Fury scanned it, sharing a subtle look with Agent Coulson, they again recognised the familiar handwriting of Agent Potter with Agent Nasri's signature at the bottom of the last page.

"I was doing a customary check of all senior Agents files, yours told me that you have a son whose birthday is coming up, is that correct?"

"Yes, my youngest son Elijah, he'll be seven. A right chip off the old block that one." The man boasted proudly.

"If you would like to take his birthday week off, as a reward for all your hard work, you may."

The agent looked rightfully shocked. "I…that would be wonderful Director, thank you."

Fury held back the smirk that wanted to break out as he handed the Agent a pen and a slip of paper. "All you have to do is put your request in writing, we'll both sign it and then you can hand it into Heather on your way out."

The Agent didn't even suspect a trap as he wrote out the request and signed his name at the bottom of the slip of paper. Fury took it back and mentally compared the handwriting to the reports. It didn't even come close to matching the recent reports, but the ones from before Agent Potter arrived, those reports matched the slip.

"Tell me Agent Nasri, what do you think of the agents in your department?" Fury asked as he made a show of checking that his personal fountain pen had ink, playing at making polite small talk.

"Some of them are pretty useless, lazy the lot of them. They rush through their work just to get home or to the bars."

"What about that new junior agent, Potter? How is he settling in from being an intern?"

"Fine as well as I can tell, I don't know much about him to be honest Sir."

"I bet you wish you did though, don't you Agent? Every senior agent wishes to have a classified Omega in their department." Fury gave a knowing smirk to the flushing agent, who seemed bolstered by the Director's words.

"Well I don't think there is an Agent in this building who hasn't thought of bending him over his desk, but the effect on me is quite mild Sir, I'm a classified Beta, so his preheat pheromones don't bother me as much, though I'm sure the Alphas feel it worse, some of them have complained he distracts them from their work, but I can't do anything about it with the strict agency protocol. Things were better when Omegas weren't allowed in the workplace, but I suppose there's nothing anyone can do about the laws that state we have to give them equality."

"But still, he's a very pretty boy, isn't he?"

"I think it's the eyes Sir, I'd do him face to face just to see those eyes in the heat of the moment."

Fury nodded as if he were agreeing and actively worked to stop his hand from clenching around the expensive pen as he signed his name. Omegas in his agency were to be treated with more respect than pieces of meat, though he knew it happened elsewhere, no Omega had been forced against their will in his agency, he made sure every single one of them were injected with suppressants, on time and within the medical bay of the agency by his nurses, all except for Agent Potter, who, it emerged very soon after his arrival at the agency, was allergic to Tarcolite Ormeloxirone and was only able to take short term tablets, but the boy had not once been late for a single tablet and the nurses all loved him and only had good things to say about him in his medical records.

"Wish your son a happy birthday from me Agent Nasri, enjoy your time off."

The man thanked him and left soon after and once the door closed Fury turned to Coulson with an eye spitting fire.

"I want that man suspended without pay. He is to be investigated fully and I want his discriminating ass out of my agency."

Coulson nodded his head and made a note of it in a small electronic notepad, made and produced by Stark.

"I want Agent Potter in here now; I want him on supervised duties and with a four man, twenty-four hour protection detail effective immediately."

"Who do you want on his protection detail?" Coulson asked.

"You for a start, I want you in charge of his protection detail and his supervision, I won't have anything happen to such a junior agent through the stupidity and bone idleness of a senior agent. I want Agent Barton on his detail and at least two other trusted Agents. I'll leave that up to you, do you think Barton can handle this?"

"I've been his handler since he came to this agency Sir, we've worked together for years, I can say with certainty that he'll perform this task adequately, even if he does get bored and restless he will never abandon his detail."

Fury nodded and breathed in deeply; he contacted Heather through the com system and asked her to get Agent Potter into his office immediately. She commed him back ten minutes later, sounding breathless and harried.

'_I'm sorry Director Fury, Agent Potter is no longer in the building, his colleagues say that their supervisor, Agent Nasri, let him go home._'

Fury controlled the urge to fire Nasri on the spot and breathed deeply through his nose. "Coulson, find out where he lives, go and get him, we need him under protection until the investigation clears him as being under no threat from enemy forces."

Agent Coulson nodded and slipped from the room calmly, he would pull up Agent Potter's, really quite bare, file and check his address, he'd find the little Omega Agent, no matter where he was.

* * *

Harry was so immensely happy that his superior had been in such a good mood. He had taken one look at Harry, smiled a really creepy smile at him and told him he could go home.

Harry hadn't questioned it, though he'd be cautious around his superior from now on, he didn't trust that smile. He had been in the break room with some colleagues, getting his second coffee of the day when his superior decided to give him the day off, some colleagues, who didn't know him at all, began accusing him under their breaths of sleeping with the man because he was an Omega. Harry had turned around and told them pointedly that he had worked yesterday when it wasn't his shift and he was still here today, again even though it wasn't his shift. That had shut them both up and he had smirked to himself at getting one over on them, though he was put out to remember only then that it wasn't his day to work, he could have gone home at five that morning after all, he wasn't due back until the following day.

Harry walked home slowly, but surely, he was too tired to do anything other than plod along, rubbing his itchy eyes and yawn every other step. He bumped into a lamppost and grunted at his unawareness of his own surroundings. He was so going to spend the day in bed catching up on some much needed sleep and curse anyone who tried to disturb him before tomorrow morning at least.

He was just turning onto his street when a black, cloth bag fell over his head and an arm held him tightly around his neck, crushing him to a chest that was so much bigger than him and cutting off his breathing too, he struggled and tried to force his tired body to lash out, but someone picked up his feet and he was in the back of a van before his body could build up any adrenaline to use.

Panic flooded through him, was this a S.H.I.E.L.D test or was it real? Why did these people want him? What were they going to do to him and where were they taking him?

He tried to breathe deeply through the black bag and keep calm as his arms and legs were tied together and bound uncomfortably, likely with rope, it felt too heavy and bulky for it to be plastic ties. This was all bringing back terrible memories of the war that he would have much rathered not be dragged up again, but he tried not to panic, if this was a test, panicking would most obviously cause him to fail. Instead he lay where he had been dumped, he didn't wriggle, didn't try to test his bonds, he breathed deeply and calmly, but he couldn't stop his racing heart or the light quiver that ran through his tensed muscles.

He tried not to make a noise, tried to stay still, but as the powerful van swung wide around a corner and sent Harry sliding into the side of the van, which really hurt, he couldn't help the pained grunt that slipped out of his throat.

Biting his lip, Harry curled up as much as his bonds allowed him to help protect him more if the van took another wide turn. He tried counting, trying to see how many minutes from his street he was travelling, but he couldn't concentrate, he could easily make no outward sign of panic, but inside he was a mess, his mind travelling a mile a minute as he tried to figure something, anything, out about why it was him in this van and not someone else.

* * *

Agent Phil Coulson arrived at Harry's small suburban house as quickly as he could within the speed limit, he didn't need to draw any unneeded attention to himself, or to Agent Potter.

He had looked out for the young twenty year old on the streets, but he didn't know the route the boy usually took home, but it seemed logical to assume that the boy would take the quickest route home in the state of exhaustion he had been in that morning.

He slipped out of the car and everything seemed calm and normal on the street. He made his way to number eighteen and knocked crisply, but loudly on the door. He knocked several times with increasing force and volume, just in case Agent Potter was fast asleep, but when he still didn't get an answer, he took out a small flip book of tools from his pocket and twisted two delicate, metal instruments together, looking up and down the street, as well as at the neighbouring windows, before picking the lock on the front door and stepping inside.

He looked around curiously at the bare, impersonal house, but the first thing he noticed that there was a pair of running shoes off to the side of the front door, but not the shoes that Agent Potter wore to work.

Moving further into the house, he cleared every downstairs room, taking the time to look for the missing pair of shoes, the shoulder bag Agent Potter used to carry paperwork in, or the jacket he had taken to work. He did find a very large portrait over the fireplace in the front room, of a very pretty, redheaded woman with Agent Potter's unique and rather lovely eyes and a tall, handsome man with the same incredibly tousled, jet black hair, which put in his mind that perhaps the constant messy state of Agent Potter's hair was its natural state and not a trendy statement. These people could only be Agent Potter's parents, which his file had clinically labelled as deceased.

He moved back out into the hallway, his gun still held tightly, but aimed at the floor as he headed silently up the stairs, perhaps Agent Potter had headed right to his bedroom as soon as he had gotten home before taking off his shoes and jacket, he had been very tired after all.

He cleared the untouched bathroom, two spare, empty rooms and came to the last door on the upper floor, which was ajar. He slipped his hand onto the door handle and threw the door open against the wall, clearing the room with his gun.

He sighed as what had been growing in his heart and mind was confirmed. Agent's Potter's bed was made up and not slept in, nothing in the room was out of place and there were no shoes, no satchel, no jacket and no Agent Potter.

Phil sighed and tucked his gun back into his holster and pulled out his phone instead. He called Fury even as his eyes found the photo of a younger looking Agent Potter standing between two people taller than him, a red headed man with freckles and a pretty woman with curly brown hair, they were all smiling, all with arms around one another, and for the first time it made him wonder which one of those two people he would have to contact with the missing persons notification.

"_Fury._" The Director answered curtly.

"He's not here Director." Phil replied softly. "Agent Potter never made it home."

Fury cursed loudly and barked orders to his secretary through his intercom before speaking to him again. "_The last project given to Nasri was about the Avengers, if that information gets out, along with everything else Potter has been informed of over the last year and a half, this entire country will go down in flames, we need to find Agent Potter as quickly as possible, I'm sending out several Agent's on scouting missions, I need you back here Coulson, I need you to find out who in this building knew that Potter was doing Nasri's work."_

"I'll be there in twenty minutes Sir."

"_I don't need to tell you to keep this all hushed up."_

"Of course not Sir, consider it already done."

* * *

Harry tried to tell himself that he wasn't afraid, but the beating of his heart in his throat didn't fool him, his stomach twisting and lurching also didn't help reassure his mind of the repeated mantra that he was fine.

He was tied to a chair, this time with plastic ties which cut tightly into his wrists and ankles and he had been left in the dim, bare room on his own. He had no doubts that he was being closely watched, so he remained outwardly calm, swallowing his fear and panic and making his chest rise and fall slowly, evenly and visibly, calling on his incredibly small and limited amount of Occlumency to keep his strong emotions from being shown outwardly on his face, wishing fervently that he had been more proficient in the mind arts just enough that he could do what Snape had used to and block his emotions off entirely and detach his mind from his body so that he wouldn't feel a thing; but he would never be that good, he was a very emotional person and not entirely because he was an Omega either. He had always been prone to emotional outbursts, whether it was sadness, anger, misery or rage; he had always had a hard time controlling his stronger emotions.

He focused all of his attention on breathing normally. He had learnt that everything would be fine if he just kept breathing. He could take pain, he could take any words that could be thrown at him, he could take anything they dished out, they couldn't hurt anyone he loved because he didn't love anyone who was alive to be hurt, everything would be fine if he just kept breathing.

This was sorely tested when a slender man came into the room with a large man and started asking all sorts of questions about him and his work place, the larger man punching his face and chest every time he didn't answer, said he didn't know, or outwardly lied, apparently he had a tell in his eyes when he lied that the large man could see.

He lost all sense of time of how long the large man kept hitting him, going from either of his cheeks to the side of his head with a closed fist, probably hoping that a concussion would help make him more loose lipped, it didn't but he did have a ringing headache when the man finally left him to bleed in peace.

Harry spat out a mouthful of blood and started breathing deeply and evenly again. Funny how all he had wanted that morning was to crawl into a bed and sleep and now all he wanted was to be anywhere that wasn't here.

Everyone he had once known was dead, all of his friends and family, everyone he would have even considered telling of his move to America was dead and he was alone in a world that had never felt right to him. He hadn't made friends at work, he hadn't made friends outside of work, not even his neighbours knew him past sight. No one would miss him and that thought clenched his gut. No one would be looking for him. He swallowed hard, he couldn't help it, he hoped that those watching him thought that he was swallowing another mouthful of blood, and not swallowing down all of his hope and despair.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know. I shouldn't be doing this with The Rise of the Drackens and Lycanthrope Factory on the go, but it's not leaving me alone and it'll only be a ficlet, I hope. The second chapter will be up soon, I don't want this to be any longer than ten chapters, so I'll try and curb myself and the details, but it hasn't worked so far, but I don't want it to be on the same scale as The Rise of the Drackens, so be forewarned it will likely have a very vague ending with mentions of happiness and love in the end and I'll leave it open for a sequel to carry on when I have more time.

StarLight Massacre. X


	2. Rescue Attempt

A/N: The warning for the violence content has gone up for this chapter. There is a missing scene that is not suitable for this site; the full version is on both Archive of Our Own and Adultfanfiction.

_Last Time_

_Everyone he had once known was dead, all of his friends and family, everyone he would have even considered telling of his move to America was dead and he was alone in a world that had never felt right to him. He hadn't made friends at work, he hadn't made friends outside of work, not even his neighbours knew him past sight. No one would miss him and that thought clenched his gut. No one would be looking for him. He swallowed hard, he couldn't help it, he hoped that those watching him thought that he was swallowing another mouthful of blood, and not swallowing down all of his hope and despair._

Chapter Two – Rescue Attempt

Nick Fury was determined to see this through to the end. He wanted Agent Potter back in this building as soon as possible. He had checked with the medical bay, Agent Potter was up to date with his tablets, but as they were only temporary, they would not be as effective and every single weekly tablet he missed, increased his chances of falling into his bimonthly heat, which was due in just three weeks according to Potter's medical file. The nurses were already trying to calculate if three missed tablets would be enough to push his body into a heat, or if the five tablets he had already taken would protect him for this coming heat period.

Fury hoped that the boy would be protected, it was reasons like these that Omega agents were always to be on time to their med bay appointments for their suppressants, no excuses, and why Omegas were purposefully targeted by enemies and why S.H.I.E.L.D always rushed to get their Omega agents back and out of situations like these; being raped by the enemy was bad enough, being raped while on heat and begging for the people around you to fuck you even though you knew they were the bad guys and that you could potentially get pregnant from said bad guys had to be worse. He had seen it destroy Omega agents over the years and he had sworn that once he became Director of S.H.I.E.L.D that it would never happen again. So far that had been true, until one lazy, moronic senior agent had put a junior Omega agent in life threatening danger for his own selfish, ease of life.

Senior agents were trained to handle such situations of capture, torture and intense interrogation, junior agents weren't because they didn't go out to do field work and usually weren't targeted because they weren't put in a position to have such knowledge that enemies would find useful. Someone had known Agent Potter had information he wasn't supposed to, someone in this building had sold the junior agent out.

The several agents he had pulled into this operation, some of his most trusted and specialised agents at that, were debriefed and sent out to subtly probe and search for anything that could lead them to Agent Potter. He had already set Agent Coulson on searching the agency internally for anyone who could have known Agent Potter was privy to information he shouldn't have.

He slumped behind his desk and rubbed his face, being careful not to dislodge the eye patch. Agent Nasri had been pulled back in for questioning once it was confirmed that Agent Potter was missing, Fury wasn't ruling the senior agent out of his part in Agent Potter's kidnapping, the man's actions had ultimately led to this situation and he wanted to know what that man had been thinking letting his intern, and then his most junior agent, look through, memorise and then write up all final reports of such secretive, sensitive information. He could only hope that Potter had been taken by amateurs and they found him quickly, or they may not want to find Agent Potter by the time they finally managed to track him down.

* * *

Harry wasn't sure how much longer he could outlast this treatment. His sleep deprived mind was confusing everything and muddling thoughts and memories up. He had been exhausted before he had been snatched off the street, but that had been nothing compared to now. Every time he let his eyes slip closed and fell into a brief, restless sleep, he was woken up painfully, and loudly, only a few moments later.

Perhaps they thought they could get something out of him if they deprived him of enough sleep and food, but he was Harry Potter, he would not endanger other people, especially not an entire country, for any reason.

He had been moved from the chair as hitting him repeatedly had not yielded any results. He was now in a different, darker room, hanging from his wrists, his shoulders pulled back and together excruciatingly and his toes were the only thing keeping all the pressure from ripping his arms out of his shoulder joints.

His captors had moved on from hits and smacks to using knives and blades and his chest was a mess of red and inflamed cuts and half scabbed and fresh lines, rivulets of dried blood pulling his skin irritatingly all the way down to his thighs.

He refused to cry, even if he couldn't always stop the pained gasps as the cold steel bit into his skin and the sensitive nerves underneath. He couldn't always stop the jerking reaction as he was cut suddenly and unexpectedly and he had only screamed once, when the hard faced, emotionless man had sliced through his very sensitive nipple, which was more painful due to his suppressed preheat period. His nipples always became so very sensitive on his preheat period.

He had no idea how long he had been here, he had no sense of time, no way to tell if it was day or night, it was always dark in this room and the only light he saw was when his captors came to ask him more questions and to torture him again.

He breathed in deeply, even though it hurt his chest and pulled on his scabs, he held the breath before letting it out slowly, everything would be fine as long as he kept breathing. He just needed to keep breathing, everything else didn't matter.

He had been asked all sorts of questions, from himself, to S.H.I.E.L.D, to the Director Nick Fury, who he had never in his life even seen, to Hydra, to the Avengers. They knew what topics of information he had, but they didn't know anything about the topics, and they wanted to know, they were using him to get the knowledge, but if they had thought him some weak, snivelling, twenty year old Omega who would piss himself and cave at the first sign of violence, they had the wrong man.

The door opened and Harry tried to make absolutely no sign of fear or awareness that his tormentors were back. He breathed in, held it and then let it out; he focused so hard on repeating the action that the touch to his hip had him sucking in a deeper, sharper breath.

"Let's hope you are in a more talkative mood this time hmmm. Where are the Hydra weapons S.H.I.E.L.D is in possession of?" A voice further away asked him softly.

It was always this way. A man would question him from the door and when he didn't answer, the man in front of him would torture him.

"You don't need to put yourself through this little Omega. Just tell us what we want to know, what we know you know, and all this can end."

Harry made no move, no sound, he just carried on breathing. When the white hot tip of something was pressed into the skin of his bare leg he couldn't help the automatic tensing of muscles as his body danced with the pain. He locked his jaw and throat to stop any noise from escaping and when the tip of the white hot something was taken from his skin, the area throbbed with his erratic heartbeat and Harry sucked in a hissed breath through his teeth. Just breathe.

"Perhaps something easier. What is the formula for the super serum used on Mister Steven Rogers, codename Captain America?"

Harry relaxed his body and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his leg, he sucked in a breath, held it as long as he could before exhaling.

The white hot tip pressed into his inside thigh of the opposite leg, he wasn't expecting it on the opposite leg and it made a pained sound slip from his throat, which turned into a hysterical scream as it was pressed harder into his flesh, digging in deeper, harder, like the torturer was trying to shove it through his leg to the other side.

The tool was removed but the pain lingered, throbbing and searing and he hopped in his restrains, his bare toes curling hard into the concrete floor as his knees threatened to give out on him.

"Come now, surely you don't want this treatment to last? It's only going to get worse. Perhaps now you want to tell us your name?"

"Charlie." Harry croaked through his parched, dry throat.

The tool was instantly pressed into his stomach and he howled. He couldn't help but scream as his knees collapsed on him and the jerk on his shoulders rolled his eyes back into his head.

"Now now, do try not to lie to us little Omega. Koli always knows when people are lying to him."

Harry quivered in his restraints and wished he could just pass out. He started breathing again, in and out, it was easy enough to do and simple for his dilapidating mind to remember, it was one of the most primal, instinctual actions of the body, everything would be fine if he just kept breathing.

"We are running out of patience with you, little Omega."

Harry ignored the man and carried on breathing slowly and as evenly as he could. The white hot tool pressed into his side and his body wrenched under its touch, but Harry didn't make a sound, even as his head fell forward until his chin hit his abused chest. He sucked in deeper breaths and remembered his times under the Cruciatus Curse. This pain was nothing compared to the curse and that knowledge helped in some small way as the tool was removed from his skin once again.

"Where is the undercover S.H.I.E.L.D base watching the shipment of nuclear armaments located?"

It would have been so easy to just open his mouth and tell them. All he had to do was tell them that the undercover base was so close to the armaments warehouse that the S.H.I.E.L.D agents could see into the building and all his pain would go away, but it wouldn't. He was already hurt, already in agony and if he told them then people were going to die, the agents assigned to the undercover base would all die and he knew every single one of their names, even if he didn't know them by face. He couldn't let all of those people die just because of him, it wasn't a fair trade.

The white hot tool was pressed and held tightly to his front shoulder and Harry's head snapped to the left away from the pain and he gritted his teeth against it. He could do this. He couldn't let other people die just to save himself some pain. He would never be able to live with himself, wouldn't be able to look at himself in the mirror, if he caved in and told them where the undercover base was and allowed twenty-seven other people to die in his place. He couldn't do it. He continued to breathe.

* * *

They couldn't find him. It had been two weeks and they couldn't find the people who had taken Agent Potter. Phil felt guilty. He just did. Agent Potter had been right opposite him the morning he had been taken. He had seen up close how tired and unwell the young man had looked.

He had seen on the security cameras as he was looking into why a junior agent would still be in the building after hours that Agent Potter was always very tired. In the short week that he had been observing the twenty year old, Agent Potter had had increasingly late nights as the due date for the final report came closer and he observed that the young man often and regularly forgot to eat anything, on the rare times he brought sandwiches with him, he took a few bites out of it before forgetting all about it, other times he worked right through breakfast, lunch and dinner with no snacks, the only thing that passed through his lips were uncountable cups of coffee and occasionally the end of his pen. How no one noticed was unfathomable. How he hadn't noticed sooner was weighing heavily on his mind.

Director Fury had called in the Avengers, it was at the point where they couldn't not call them in as Agent Potter had had inside information on every single one of them and as the Avengers as a whole. They were in danger as well if the information S.H.I.E.L.D held on all of them got into the wrong hands.

"So why are we here?" Stark asked lazily, lounging in his chair, hands behind his head.

"It could be an emergency Tony." Steve coached disapprovingly.

"It is an emergency." Fury bit out, he had been getting increasingly bad tempered as each day passed and yielded no results.

"Where is the emergency? We didn't see any invading aliens or mass destruction as we made our way here."

"Not that sort of emergency. One of our junior agents was compromised by a superior agent, who handed said agent, who is only twenty years old, top secret, very delicate information, including topics on S.H.I.E.L.D, covert operations, Hydra, and the Avengers, including all of your personal information and what makes you part of the Avengers team, including, but not limited to, the schematics for the Ironman suit and the arc reactor, the super serum for Captain America, the radiation treatment that made the Hulk and information on Asgard and Asgardians along with their form of transport with the Bi-frost."

"And now this junior agent has run off with all of this information?" Tony demanded.

"No. This junior agent has been snatched off the street before we could get them into S.H.I.E.L.D protection, which was going to include Coulson and Barton along with two others."

Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye, sat up straighter at hearing that and listened closer as his mind was now interested in the person who would have been on his detail.

"Right, I know there's something else other than what you're saying."

"This agent happens to be an Omega with a potential heat period in approximately one week from today."

"Isn't it mandatory for all S.H.I.E.L.D Omegas to have the injection?" Natasha asked curiously.

"Unfortunately a near fatal allergy to Tarcolite Ormeloxirone prevents this agent from being able to have the injected suppressant."

"That only leaves the temporary tablets." Tony said, his face pulled in thought. "Even the oral liquid uses Tarcolite Ormeloxirone as the active ingredient. Omegas on the tablets have to take them at the same time every single week, one missed pill could ruin over a month of carefully taken tablets. Hell, one _late_ tablet could ruin over a month of taking them."

"I know." Fury almost snarled, his hands balled into fists.

"So a twenty year old Omega who is going to go onto a heat period in a week has the information that could destroy this country, take the entire Avengers team down and ruin S.H.I.E.L.D? We're doomed." Tony declared.

"That twenty year old Omega has been missing for over two weeks." Phil cut in sharply, unable to help himself. "We have still to receive any whisper that anyone knows what was in those files and all our enemies have been quiet."

"They've been missing for two weeks?" Bruce asked horrified. Omegas were not built to withstand two weeks of violence, mistreatment and, at an educated guess, torture.

"Two weeks and three days."

"So the Omega has missed two pills and is going to miss a third?" Tony questioned softly. "That heat isn't going to be potential, it'll be a certainty. One late pill has thrown Omegas into heat before now."

"There have been recorded cases of Omegas missing four tablets and not having a heat period." Fury countered, wishing fervently that Agent Potter was one of the latter cases.

"Those are usually older Omegas who are coming to the end of their breeding cycles anyway." Tony argued. "We've got to find this kid and fast, preferably before their heat hits. I'm not going to fuck any Omega and have my ass sued when they cry rape as I was trying to rescue them from enemies."

"If the people who have the Omega want the information badly, there may not be anything to be rescued."

"Thank you for that addition Agent Romanoff." Fury bared his teeth. "Our latest Intel puts a shoe that Agent Potter was wearing the same morning of the kidnapping in the middle of nowhere, our Agents believe that he could still be in a hundred mile radius."

"Are you sure it's his?" Clint couldn't help asking, even if his handler, Phil, gave him a stern look.

"Forensics have confirmed that the shoe in question belongs to Agent Potter."

"Right, who are we looking for here; do we get a description of him?" Tony asked. "Or are we supposed to go in blind and save every person we meet?"

Fury turned to the screen behind him and picked up a projector button and pressed it, watching with a heavy heart as a much younger looking, happier and healthier Agent Potter popped up onto the screen.

"Holy fuck. Every Alpha in a thousand mile radius is going to want that when he goes onto heat." Tony said in admiration of the photo on the screen, ignoring the disapproving looks he was getting with a practised ease.

"Meet Harry James Potter, twenty years old and one of S.H.I.E.L.D's most junior agents. He was an intern last year for a long standing senior agent, who had retired from field work to supervise the department that Agent Potter joined eighteen months ago."

"When did he become an Agent?" Tony asked curiously.

"Nine months ago, his superior noted that he showed high levels of intelligence, a diligence in work ethic and an enthusiasm next to none, said he was wasted as an intern."

"Would this be the same superior who has now endangered him, us and all of America?"

"That would be the one." Fury admitted grudgingly.

"Where is this Agent now?" Steve asked calmly, but his blue eyes showed steel.

"Down in interrogation with three Agents who are grilling him for his actions and for any information he might have, we're not ruling him out of his part in Agent Potter's kidnap, we want a list of names of people he even mentioned Agent Potter to."

"Does anyone know he has the information?" Bruce asked softly.

"Not as far as we can tell. Agent Coulson has been subtly inquiring about it over the last two weeks and has found nothing that stands out or points a finger at any one person."

"I want all the security footage." Tony stated. "I'll watch it and see if anything stands out."

"Agent Coulson and two others have already watched the footage Stark; no one ever went into Agent Potter's office besides Agent Potter and his superior, Agent Nasri."

"I want the footage from his office as well, but I'm more interested in the other agents in his department."

Fury sighed and nodded, letting Stark plug something in to access the security footage, he'd probably only break in and download it all anyway. This way was faster.

He was forced to watch as Stark flitted through days and weeks and months of systematic abuse in the workplace, was forced to watch once again as Agent Potter was overworked, not eating, drinking far too much coffee for a boy of his young age, shouted at by Nasri several times a day for doing the work he was supposed to be doing, either ignored or treated with contempt by his fellow agents when he emerged from his office to refresh his coffee and the several times he pitifully crawled under his desk to sleep for an hour before getting up and starting again on his very heavy workload. It was a disgrace that no one had noticed.

"None of you noticed this going on?" Stark scoffed as his sharp eyes scanned the footage that was being played at double speed.

"I noticed the week before he went missing." Coulson sighed. "I should have caught it sooner, but Agent Potter hid everything so well. I only clicked on when I was in the building early to debrief several Agents for an early morning raid and I happened to be walking past his office as he was crawling from under his desk. No junior Agent should have such a heavy workload as to keep them in the building overnight. It was odd, so I looked into it."

"And found a year and a half's worth of mishandling and exploitation." Clint said, looking at his handler curiously. He had never seen the man more upset and wondered if there was more than what was being said.

"I was right there. He sat opposite me in the break room just an hour before he went missing. I was watching him as he finished his work, he checked his watch before sliding under his desk with his jacket, I knew he would be tired so I went and got him a coffee as well as some blueberry muffins, he hadn't eaten anything in at least two days."

"So as well as being an Omega with a heat approaching, he was also sleep deprived and hungry before he was kidnapped?" Natasha raised a single eyebrow.

"It sounds hopeless, but I want him back in whatever state." Fury cut in adamantly. "I won't abandon any of my Agents in this sort of situation."

"Of course we'll help." Steve said. "I'm sure between us we can find him and soon enough to do any damage control."

"I really am going to need all the footage if we're going to do what Cap says." Stark murmurs as he started downloading all of the footage with just a few typed keys to his personal database.

Fury hoped that they could help find the missing Agent. He hadn't had a good night's sleep since Agent Potter went missing; he needed the Agent to be alive and as undamaged as could be realistically expected.

* * *

Harry wanted to die. His body was a mess, his head wasn't much better and the endless days of no sleep had him acting like some sort of mindless drone. His breathing hitched on every inhale and stuttered out wetly with every exhale, his arms had long since gone numb from being suspended over his head for so long and he couldn't even feel his fingers anymore. He hung limply in the ropes that held him from a loop in the ceiling.

His one leg jumped convulsively out of his control. The burns that now covered most of that leg had affected his nerves; he could only hope it wasn't permanent damage as his knee jerked, again out of his control.

He let his eyes slip open, he had long since gotten used to the almost pitch blackness of the room and he could see vague shapes and outlines in the dark, he could see he was standing on his abused toes still, how was anyone's guess, but likely had something to do with sheer stubbornness. He could see how his one ankle was twisted wrong, how his foot now stood sideways from his body from where it had been broken early on, when he had kicked his abuser in anger for putting the white hot tool he used to burn him so very close to his groin.

He took comfort from the small fact that he hadn't been castrated yet, partially or otherwise and that he still had all of his limbs and digits, even if he did have a broken ankle, even though he couldn't feel his bloodless fingers, he knew he still had them along with all ten of his toes and all thirty-two of his teeth. He hoped that this lasted.

His vocal tormentor had lamented the fact that they might have to start breaking bone soon enough if he didn't start answering his questions, because he wasn't responding to any 'traditional' torture methods, like blades and burns. Harry wondered idly how much breaking bones hurt compared to having them removed and then regrown in a twenty-four hour period.

His mind flitted from this thought to thoughts of Ron, which led to Hermione and the other Weasleys, who had given their lives for him to make the world a better place for people they didn't know and probably weren't half as grateful enough for what had been sacrificed. So many lives, so many of his loved ones dead. All dead. Why couldn't he join them? What was tying him to life, what was keeping him in this world, what did he have to live for now?

His head flopped to the side as his body tried to shut down once again to get some rest, but a moment later a sound like an air horn jerked him painfully back into awareness, they hadn't once stopped watching him, he hadn't once been able to catch just a minute of sleep.

He could feel his heart beating several times faster than normal, could almost feel his stress and blood pressure rise each day as his paranoid mind produced hallucinations so real that he sometimes talked to them and envisioned them talking back to him.

His stomach, now completely concave, his skin clinging to his ribs like a Clingfilm covering, had long since stopped grumbling in hunger. His captors hadn't given him anything to eat since he had been taken; they only allowed him sips of water through a bendy straw, telling him that if he didn't drink it then they would force him to. Harry allowed them this small control, knowing that if they shoved a tube down his throat then he would lose any and all control of how much, and exactly what, he drank.

His leg jerked again and a spasm of something racked his whole body, it was likely pain from his sudden movement, but his entire body was in so much agony that he had become so used to after so long that he just didn't register it as pain any longer.

His head dropped down onto his chest, his burning, red rimmed eyes closing, just for a moment, his body slumping in his restraints and then he was jumping again as the loud blast of noise woke him, jolting him into making more sudden movements, which racked his body with a full body quiver.

He swallowed around his dry tongue, his mouth long since dried and rubbery; they hadn't let him have a drink today. Maybe this was some new form of torture, or maybe they had gotten so fed up of his continued silence that they were just going to watch him die from dehydration instead.

The door creaked open on its rusty hinges and Harry barely heard it over the conversation he was having internally with himself, or maybe he was speaking aloud, he didn't know anymore.

"You amaze me little Omega." His tormentor spoke softly from the door. "Before you, I would have said adamantly that no Omega could withstand such treatment for longer than a few days, but you are almost on your third week in our expert care and you have not told us a thing besides your babbled daydreams and what I suspect are hallucination influenced conversations, I would be impressed if we did not need the information you hold so desperately. Our bosses are not best pleased with us and our lack of results, so let's step it up a bit shall we?"

Harry did nothing but suck in a deep breath, trying to ignore his heart, which beat uncontrollably fast. His mind flitting back to the broken bones conversation and the one before that when his tormentor had told him that he was going to let every man in this compound rape him as soon as his heat hit. If he really had been here for almost three weeks then they wouldn't have long to wait.

The knife was a sudden blow into the once meaty, but now shrunken flesh of his side, just above his hipbone. He jerked in his restraints, more from surprise than at the pain, which had become almost familiar to him than the memory of the back of his hand, with the neat, cursive letters that formed out the sentence 'I must not tell lies', a souvenir from Delores Umbridge. What right did that woman have to still be alive when there were people, so much better, so much kinder and so much brighter than her all dead?

"So it is true, you are becoming desensitised to pain. Perhaps something that your body can't ignore then."

'Please don't take my toes.' Harry thought right before he screamed, roughly and tiredly, as something small and grainy, like sand, was rubbed harshly over the fresh knife wound.

"That's better, it's been a while since we last heard you scream, I had missed the sound. Now, how does Anthony Stark, codename Ironman, made that curious arc reactor in his chest work?"

"Magic." Harry answered groggily.

Another knife wound, followed by the grainy substance had Harry howling as his head thrashed from side to side.

"We have been through all of this before little Omega, just tell us what we want to know!"

This was the first time Harry had heard his tormentor raise his voice and he wondered what was different to all the times before. What had changed to put that hint of stress in his captor's voice, the slight note of rising panic, what was different?

A slice to his already cut and scabbed chest and the grainy substance being rubbed all over, getting into half healed cuts as well as the fresh ones and into the open burn wounds had him screaming his throat hoarse and dancing in agony, his toes curling into the concrete floor.

"You're not getting out of here alive any other way; why not tell us what we want you to and save yourself the pain?"

Harry breathed raggedly, fighting back the urge to sob or to scream again, but he didn't answer. Another slice, to his leg this time before the sandy granules' were scrubbed into his skin and into his open cuts and burns and he screamed again.

"What is your name?"

His torturer cut his belly in a long line, almost from hipbone to hipbone before getting a fistful of whatever he was using before using the heel of his hand to force the stuff into the long wound, forcing it into the cut over and over and Harry thrashed in his restraints, forcing his torturer to wrap an arm around his thighs to keep him still as he rubbed more sandy stuff into his belly wound.

"Harry! Harry, Harry, Harry!" He screamed desperately and a tad hysterically as his body clenched, writhed and then tried to curl in on itself.

The hands slipped from around him and he hung limply, sobbing onto himself as his chin rested on his chest.

"Hmm, Harry. A lovely name for a little Omega. Who knew that finely ground rock salt would have had such an effect on you? It seems we have found your weakness after all. Give him a reward Koli."

Harry fully expected more salt, but what he got was a straw shoved into his mouth. He cracked his eyes open to see the clear fluid. He took a tiny sip and when the liquid had no taste, he suckled greedily. Really, even if it was poison, what did he care anymore? But he had had caution drilled into him and it wasn't reassuring to know that the strongest truth potion, Veritaserum, was colourless, odourless and looked very much like water. Though where Muggles would get such a heavily controlled potion from in the first place was anyone's guess.

"Now that we have made a break through Harry, perhaps you are in a talking mood today."

"Please let me sleep." Harry begged, he thought it had been internally, but apparently it hadn't been.

"Well, you are in a talking mood! Brilliant, perhaps today can go that much smoother. You can sleep after you have answered all of my questions Harry, I promise."

Harry sobbed. He didn't want more salt, now that he had caved once, they would carry on using it and he cursed his idiocy and his weakness, he shouldn't have caved in. He wasn't going to talk, not about anything that put anyone other than himself in danger, they could have his name, he was going to die anyway, but by giving them that small inch, they now expected to seize a mile from him and he wouldn't let it happen.

"Now Harry, where is the undercover S.H.I.E.L.D base located?"

It always came back to that question. That one question was asked more than any other, it was that question that they wanted answered more than any other, even if they did want all of them answered, they wanted that one first. Probably why they had snatched him first and foremost, before they realised he had more information on things that he shouldn't have. He was going to give his supervisor a right piece of his mind if he ever got out of here. He was going to curse the lazy fucker into a puddle of goo as soon as he was recovered and had collected his wand from the safe in his house.

"Oh Harry, I'm so disappointed." His tormentor crooned.

His torturer sliced his chest and rubbed a fistful of salt into the wound harshly and he screamed as the salt caught in his partially healed nipple cut, the sound stronger, louder and healthier now due to his cup of water which had rehydrated his mouth and throat.

Harry sniffed hard and choked out an exhale of air. He couldn't last much longer, his mind was playing tricks on him, making him see things that weren't there, his body was crippled, broken, he just wanted to sleep, even if that sleep came in the permanent form of death.

* * *

Steve Rogers took the point of the attack, leading his team into the reinforced building in the middle of an abandoned, dilapidated factory, in the arse end of nowhere. He had several S.H.I.E.L.D agents milling around with his team, they had air reinforcements, ground reinforcements a bit further back and Fury on earwigs fitted into all of their ears, he commed his team just to make sure they were working still and after receiving an affirmative from all of them, he signed for them to move into position.

They knew the missing Agent was in the building, their Intel told them that it was the only part of this factory that was even remotely safe to stay in and he had sent Hawkeye to confirm that there were people inside, the nimble, sharp eyed archer was perched on the roof of the building, having climbed up expertly to find a skylight to look through because all of the windows were boarded up.

'_Cap, I can hear screaming inside.'_ Clint commed him through the earwig.

Steve wanted to sigh in relief that the young Agent was even still alive, but he was torn between knowing he was alive and knowing that him screaming likely meant he was being tortured.

'_It's getting worse; I think they know we're here.' _Clint said lowly and urgently.

'_Can you smell any pheromones?' _Tony's voice came over the earwigs.

'_Negative, can't smell a damn thing only sulphur from the factory behind me, the wind's blowing too strongly to pick anything else up.' _

"That's good." Steve remarked. "He might not have gone onto his heat period, he might have been protected."

'_Just because birdbrain can't smell him doesn't mean anything!' _Tony snapped. _'Sulphur is a very overpowering scent and Potter might be in a controlled room with no windows to leak his scent.'_

Steve sighed. He had tried endlessly to try and stop Tony from name calling and teasing the other Avengers, especially Bruce, but he had come to learn that it was all inflected with affection and it was just Tony's way of being Tony, he had shown countless times how much he cared for them in his own way over the last few years and Steve had learned to put up with it, just like Thor's eating habits, Natasha's wounded rhino like snoring and Clint's very heart wrenching habit of doing stupid, dangerous stunts when bored. He did see himself as a Father to them all, because they made it so easy when they all acted like children, with the exception of Bruce, who was so level headed and controlled Steve's heart ached for him.

'_Will you stop your quibbling and get on with it!' _Director Fury's voice matched his namesake as he snapped at them over the com devices.

Steve slipped around the discarded crate he had hunched behind and moved closer, gesturing to Clint to stay where he was, of course the man never liked staying still, so he had slipped down off the roof and began scouring for an entrance to use before Steve could so much as open his mouth.

'_Seems like the only entrance is being guarded from the outside as well as the inside.'_ Clint informed them _'The door is on the back of the building, facing away from you and out towards the abandoned factory complex.'_

"Where are you Clint? You know I don't like you being out of my sight." Steve murmured as he tried to move into a position that allowed him to see Clint, to no avail.

'_I'm fine daddy. I'm going to get back up on the roof and go through a vent, see if I can't scout around a bit more.'_

"I don't like that idea." Steve countered.

'_We're never going to get in otherwise.' _Clint answered softly. _'I can still hear him screaming Cap. He hasn't stopped.' _

Steve swallowed hard. "Okay, do what you can, we'll see what we can do from out here, try to draw the guards away before getting inside. We might lose communication when you go into the vents."

'_I know, but that should only be when I'm in the vents, unless the walls are double thick with steel and concrete. We'll find out.'_

Steve felt his heart clench as he watched a member of his team slip back up onto the roof like liquid, he never got over how easy Clint made climbing things seem, even seemingly impossibly things, but it was when Clint reported his position for the last time, and a few minutes later Steve tried to contact him, only to hear nothing.

"Right, we've lost Clint, we need to get those outside guards away from the door so we can get in, though we need to be aware that Clint thinks that there are guards inside the door as well, they might be there to ambush us once we gain entrance."

Steve received affirmative responses from his team and held his shield tighter, he moved more to his right and slipped around a large piece of factory debris and wondered who would get the guards first, Natasha or Thor.

* * *

Clint Barton slipped as silently as he could through the vents, he couldn't crouch and move, his footfalls would make too much noise, instead he had to lie on his belly and crawl using just his arms to move himself lest he be found.

He had tried to communicate with his team, but he only received static. The screaming was worse from inside the building. Long, ragged, helpless screams that wrenched every single protective, Alpha string in his body. He wanted to rush to Harry and help him, but it would likely get them both killed sooner if he did.

He followed the screams to as close to the source as he could get, looking through each grate as he came across them, so he could scan for threats and so he wouldn't be seen. He came across no one, there was no one in the hallways, they all seemed to be preparing for the Avengers outside of the building, not thinking that one could get inside.

He stopped at one grate where the screaming came through the loudest and he looked around as much as he could, there was no one. He slipped the grate off quickly and quietly and again checked for people, nothing. He poked his head down and checked more thoroughly and there was again no one near him.

He righted himself before dropping down to the floor where his com immediately burst into life in his ear making him want to rip it out. It seemed his teammates were having no luck trying to get in through the only door and Tony was asking for permission to blow a hole in the wall.

"Bad idea Tony, there are gas pipes running along all the inside walls, the entire building will blow." Clint hissed, putting his back to a wall and looking up and down in case anyone heard him and came running.

'_Clint! Where are you?' _Steve asked, relief thick in his voice.

If he didn't know any better, Clint would have thought that the Captain like liked him, but he did know better and he knew that Steve looked out for all of them, but as he was always the scout who came in first and did stupid, dangerous stuff like crawling into a hostile building on his own, Steve was often more worried about him than the others.

"Inside Cap, right where Harry is if the volume of screaming is any indication. If I can get in and get us both back out through the vents I'll do it, or maybe find a window." He added as an afterthought as the idea of dragging the small, damaged body of a twenty year old Omega who had undergone over three weeks of continuous torture through those small vents rubbed him the wrong way.

He started moving, feeling exposed and vulnerable where he was and tried to find the room Harry was in, without opening the wrong door, if he did and there were hostiles behind it he was screwed.

'_Can you smell any pheromones?'_ Tony asked over the com and Clint would have rolled his eyes if he dared.

"Negative Tony. This place smells like bleach and like too many men living together for too long."

'_Chinese food, stale sweat and mould then.' _Natasha answered and Clint snorted before he could help himself.

"About right." He answered as he slipped down the corridor and looked either way, before moving towards the sound of high pitched keening. "I think I've found the right room."

'_Be careful Clint!' _Steve told him with a grunt as he did something that forced him to exhale heavily.

"My guard's up Captain, promise."

Clint tried to listen under the screaming and keening, but he couldn't hear anyone else. He tried the heavy steel door and to his surprise it was unlocked, but it was obvious why when he pushed it open and saw the tiny body suspended from the ceiling, there was no way Harry was getting away from that.

"Holy fuck!" He exclaimed wide eyed, not even breathing as the light from the corridor illuminated the state of the body before him. "Get the medical team set up and waiting. Incredibly heavy, sustained damage, the amount of blood is very worrying, he's still conscious at the moment; the only obvious broken bone is the right ankle. I'm not getting him out through the vents; I'll have to find a window."

'_Do what you have to; just get him out Agent Barton!' _Fury yelled into his ear, the man had become almost manic in the search for the young Agent, taking it heavily and personally that one of his senior Agents was responsible for this boy being here, in this situation.

"Will do Sir."

Clint stepped into the room and rushed to Harry, only to stop suddenly as a wave of pheromones hit him full blast along with the cool wave of air conditioning. He had made a grievous error in judgement. Harry wasn't screaming and keening because he was in pain, he was doing it because he was in heat and no one was taking care of his needs. The industrial air conditioner was sucking the air out of the room and recycling it into cold air to push back into the same room, but it had also been sucking up Harry's heat pheromones so he couldn't smell them, it was only when he had stepped into the room, moved closer to Harry and into the path of the air conditioner that he could smell them, but it was too late as he felt his pupils blow wide and his own pheromones leaked out.

He approached the boy and touched him gently, getting a soft coo back, he picked up Harry's head gently and looked at him, broken, battered, bleeding and couldn't remember anyone being so gorgeous when in such a state as those emerald eyes locked onto his, still bright, perhaps a bit too bright as he felt the fever warm cheeks under his palms.

"Please." Harry begged him softly. "Please."

"I'll take care of you." Clint promised, not even thinking that the Omega meant anything other than taking care of his heat.

Clint touched the naked, painfully aroused body, not even seeing the bruises, the red raw, inflamed cuts and slices or the horrific way the discoloured skin clung to bone. All he saw was an Omega in heat; it was all he smelled and all he heard was the little Omega begging for him.

He moved around the small body and touched his back, slipping a hand down to cup a bum cheek. He didn't like it like this. He liked to fight for his Omegas, not just take them, but the pheromones were so strong, so overpowering this close up, that he couldn't move away and instead he popped open the buttons on his trousers, being mindful of the straps that supported his leg muscles and the belt that held the quiver of specialist arrows and the bottom of his backup quiver.

* * *

**Missing Scene**

* * *

He cleaned the boy up as best as he could, both his own seed and Harry's as he had orgasmed himself, against his own belly, before he tucked himself back into his trousers and cut the ropes holding Harry up and caught him in a hold over his shoulder. The Alpha in him snarled at the naked body that no one else was allowed to see, but his rational mind knew he had to get them out of here, right now.

He got out of the room, hoping against hope that Harry's heat pheromones didn't kick in again before they escaped, the orgasm should have taken the edge off it for a while, but he hadn't knotted, so he didn't know if Harry would accept it as a successful mating or not.

The screaming in his ear for him to report distracted him and he cursed them all, he was getting a headache from them.

"Shut up!" He hissed viciously at them.

'_Clint! Where are you? What happened?'_

"Where am I? Where do you think I am?! Where are you?!"

'_We can't get in, they've got explosives rigged to the walls and they keep firing at us.' _Steve told him, his voice thick with stress.

'_Where are you Clint, are you okay?'_ Natasha asked, her own voice heavy and breathless.

"Still in the building. The steel room they had Harry in blocked the com device. I'm looking for an exit that won't kill him. I think everyone who's in this building is up front with you lot, so carry on doing whatever it is you're doing."

'_Are you okay?' _Natasha asked again, refusing to relent.

"No." He snapped angrily. He had just raped a twenty year old Omega who had been tied to the damned ceiling and had been tortured for over three weeks, he was not alright. He felt ashamed and sick; he'd never be able to look in the mirror again.

He ignored all of their pestering for answers, even Fury, who demanded that he report in full. He had snapped back that he'd do it as soon as he wasn't in imminent danger. That had shut them up for all of two seconds.

'_You're in imminent danger?' _Steve asked, Clint could almost see his horrified, wide eyes and he felt bad for the lie, right up until a gun fired and he felt a searing pain in his leg.

He turned around to see a large man with a gun out and aimed at him. He looked like he was all muscle and no brains, but he knew how to aim a gun. He had purposefully aimed at his legs to incapacitate him without putting Harry in the line of fire. They wanted him alive still.

'_Barton! Report, now!'_

"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled, inching his way back along the wall as the large man loped forward, hesitant to shoot because Harry's body was laying over his own. His Alpha hated the idea, knew instinctually that he needed to protect his Omega, not put him in the line of fire, but this man was hesitant to shoot Harry, it was their best bet of getting out alive.

He checked over his shoulder quickly, letting his sharp eyes look for other men, possible hazards, or any corners he was backing into. There was a corner coming up, he hoped there was no one around it because he was going to run.

'_Don't think I won't fire your ass for this Barton!'_

"All due respect Sir, if you don't shut up I won't be coming out of here alive, so it won't matter if I'm fired or not!"

Clint reached behind him, he had made it to the corner and he spun around and ran, thanking god that there was no one around the other side, he heard the heavy foot falls behind him and prayed that he was faster, even with Harry's dead weight. He had to get them out of here.

Several more shots and two more bursts of pain in his legs and he stumbled. He shouted at himself internally, he couldn't falter now. Not now that he was so close. He could see a window, boarded up from the outside, but he could also see that it was rigged with explosives; he was not jumping through that. He ran around in a circle, avoiding the fucker behind him, who was likely just following the blood trail he was leaving, until a patch of light from above had him remembering the skylights.

"I'm not getting out." He said into his com. "I can't get into the vents and all the windows I've come across are rigged with explosives."

'_Can't you climb?!' _Steve's desperate voice sounded strained and thick with emotion.

"Negative. Bastard's taken out my legs, I can barely stay upright. Our only hope is to get through the skylights, but I can't climb and Harry's unconscious now."

'_Do you know where you are?'_ Tony's voice asked quickly.

"I've been running around a lot, but I should be on the East side of the building from the only door." Clint replied, moving on as he heard the distinctive sound of a gun magazine being reloaded and a bullet being chambered into a gun barrel. He swallowed thickly.

He moved as quickly as he could, slipping around a corner just as a shot fired and a pain burst through his hip. He grunted and stumbled again, cursing the persistent fuck and hoping that he hadn't called in his location or for back up, it hadn't looked like he had a talkie on him or a com device, but the guy had pockets, for all Clint knew he had a phone on him and had already called the situation in.

Glass shattering just ahead of him had him running on his protesting legs. He turned a corner and had never been so happy to see Tony in his life.

"Have I told you recently that I love you Tony?" He said in relief as he almost fell into the waiting arms of Ironman, who sent off a jet propulsion as the big ugly with the gun came around the corner.

"Not recently." Tony replied cockily and Clint could almost hear the smirk that was bound to be on his face in his voice as Tony flew them back out of the skylight, calling in his success and getting everyone to pull back. They needed medical attention, especially Harry, but he'd be fucking damned if he was now hobbled or left with a permanent limp because some fucker had shot up his legs and hip. He'd come back just to make sure the bastard was dead.

* * *

A/N: Well this had a wonderful response for you readers! Thank you so much, it makes me so much happier to write when I know I'm doing it for readers who actually like what I'm doing.

**EasyReader**: Harry is hiding all of his painful memories of his past, seeing his photos move in an imitation of life hurts him, so all of his moving photos are in his photo album, which is in his safe along with his wand, which he never takes to work because S.H.I.E.L.D agents are searched every time they enter the building. All the photos in his home are non-moving and all of his magical books are hidden under spells. So he is hiding a lot, because it's all too painful, but it will all come out eventually, it always does.

Thank you all for reading, reviewing, alerting, favouriting and C2ing this story! It makes me all warm and happy inside when I get the emails, so thank you!

StarLight Massacre. X


	3. Recovery

_Last Time_

"_Have I told you recently that I love you Tony?" He said in relief as he almost fell into the waiting arms of Ironman, who sent off a jet propulsion as the big ugly with the gun came around the corner._

"_Not recently." Tony replied cockily and Clint could almost hear the smirk that was bound to be on his face in his voice as Tony flew them back out of the skylight, calling in his success and getting everyone to pull back. They needed medical attention, especially Harry, but he'd be fucking damned if he was now hobbled or left with a permanent limp because some fucker had shot up his legs and hip. He'd come back just to make sure the bastard was dead._

Chapter Three – Recovery

The medical bay of S.H.I.E.L.D was like a fully equipped hospital room, complete with nurses and doctors. Clint had had the bullets that were lodged in his body removed, from his hip and from his thigh; they were the only shots that weren't through and through.

He was pretending to sleep, partly because the nurses would kill him if they knew he was awake still, but mostly to delay having to give his report, where he would have to tell his team that he had raped Harry as he was tied up and defenceless.

He turned to the side and slitted his eyes open to see Harry in the bed next to him, hooked up to all sorts, stitched up in most parts, and on several different IV's. He hadn't gone back into heat, hadn't released any more pheromones, Clint wondered if it was because his heat period had ended or because he was deeply unconscious.

He closed his eyes again and tried to sleep, he was exhausted, but his mind kept playing over what had happened, what he had done, he was a vile human being and he didn't deserve to be an Alpha. Why had he been born an Alpha? If he had been a Beta, he would never have lost his head like that at smelling Harry's heat pheromones, it would have been terribly difficult to focus, it would have distracted him, torn his mind in two, but he would never have raped the little Omega, he had so much self-control he was sure that if he had been a born Beta, and not an Alpha, he would have focused on getting them both out, not on mating the twenty year old, who had such an extensive list of damage from consistent and heavy torture that they were worried about his mental state.

Of course they wanted Harry to wake up as soon as possible. The building they had rescued Harry from had been blown up. Apparently Tony's jet propulsion had hit the big ugly, who had reflexively pulled the trigger, right into a gas pipe, which had set off a chain reaction and only a minute after they had gotten out and everyone had retreated away to regroup, the building had completely blown up, along with everyone inside it. They had no way of knowing what Harry had told them, or who the people inside the building had been working for, so they didn't know who had the information Harry had given them or where to find them. Fury was of course livid as questioning the bumbling Agent Nasri had only revealed that he was a lazy bastard who hadn't wanted to do his own work so had bullied the young, impressionable intern into doing it instead. He hadn't been involved in the kidnapping plot or sold Agent Potter out to people who would be interested in kidnapping him.

Bartholomew Nasri had made life long enemies of the Avengers, had been stripped from S.H.I.E.L.D and had been fired indefinitely. But it still left the question of how had those people known to take Harry, how had they known that he had the information they needed?

A touch to his hand had Clint jumping in fright, but he made sure not to screw up his face, so the person touching him didn't know he was awake. The hand was large, so maybe it was Steve, who was feeling so guilty as it had been his orders that had put Clint in the building, though they all knew that Clint would have done it anyway and they had had no way of knowing that they wouldn't be able to get into the building themselves when Clint had slipped into the vents.

"I know you're awake Clint." The voice of Phil Coulson had him breathing out in a huff and opening his eyes. His Handler knew him too well. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." Clint groaned back. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. The painkillers were wearing off so he was in pain that was steadily building and he felt so guilty for adding to Harry's pain and list of injuries.

"You look it." Phil told him softly, brushing his overlong hair from his face, he'd need it cut soon. "Have you gotten any sleep?"

Clint shook his head tiredly. "Can't sleep, I feel so guilty."

"You are the one who got him out of there Clint, what do you have to feel guilty for? None of the shots aimed at you hit him; you may have jarred him a bit running, but that couldn't be helped. I know your Alpha instincts would have been out of your control at seeing an Omega so injured and hurt, but don't let them force you into feeling guilty when you saved him. He would have died in there Clint; you had to run to get the both of you out."

Clint swallowed and turned away from Phil, who's soft, understanding look hardened and turned into curiosity.

"That isn't why you feel guilty, is it Clint?" Phil asked neutrally. "The doctors say that the suppressant in Agent Potter's blood is completely untraceable. The tablets aren't in his system anymore; they said it was a miracle that he hadn't gone onto a heat period, but he did, didn't he?"

Clint swallowed and clenched his hands, which pulled on the tape holding the IV needle into his arm. He nodded slowly.

"There was an industrial air conditioner in the room, I didn't notice it. It was exchanging the air so I couldn't smell the pheromones. When I last reported in, I was outside of the room calling for the medical teams to be prepared; I couldn't smell anything so I thought it was fine. As soon as I stepped into the room, I smelt him. He smelt so good, underneath the blood and the sweat and I didn't see any of the damage on him, he looked gorgeous, he smelled amazing. He was so far in his heat he was begging for me. I couldn't control myself, my Alpha instincts were already at the forefront because I knew an Omega had been taken, had been tortured, I could hear him screaming and I thought it was in pain, but it wasn't. I made a mistake and I hurt him more."

Coulson breathed in deeply and looked behind him, to the bed that held an unconscious Harry and he swallowed.

"I have to tell Director Fury, Clint. You know I do."

Clint nodded. "I was going to do it myself when I got out of this bed. I was going to tell all of you and take all of the consequences together."

"There are laws protecting Omegas Clint, but there are also laws protecting Alphas. Everyone knows that once an Alpha scents out an Omega on heat that they can't help themselves, you can't be prosecuted for it Clint, but you could lose your job because Harry works here as well, if he complains that you are too close to him, it will be you losing your job regardless of how long you've been here or what your job entails and if he calls rape, you could be looking at a court case."

"I know. I just want to apologise to him first. I never meant to hurt him. I wanted to rescue him, not rape him when he was already in so much pain. I feel terrible."

Phil sighed and patted his shoulder. "You need to make a full report Clint, leaving nothing out."

"I wasn't planning on leaving anything out Sir."

Phil nodded and went to tell the doctors that Agent Potter might have been impregnated. Clint was in shock; his mind was stuck on one thing and one thing only. He hadn't yet realised that he could have fathered a baby on Agent Potter, that would change as soon as he calmed down and his body slipped out of its shocky state and as Agent Potter couldn't take the emergency contraceptives, the baby would likely be born unless Agent Potter opted for an abortion, there was always giving the baby up for adoption, but as an Omega it was unlikely, most Omegas who opted for adoption, usually changed their minds as soon as the baby was born and ended up keeping it.

He told the doctor, who rushed to Agent Potter to begin more testing, before he told a nurse that Clint was still awake and wasn't sleeping. She clicked her tongue, loaded up a syringe with a sedative and had injected it through his IV line before Clint could roll over and ask her what she was doing.

He tried to shout at her for drugging him, but his words slurred together and before he had finished his threat, he was fast asleep in the bed. Phil smiled at him, before leaving to debrief Fury and Steve, neither of them were going to be happy, but he hoped they were understanding, Clint was in enough pain and in such a state of guilt and self-hate that any more would hurt him deeply.

* * *

Clint woke up once again to someone touching his hand, it was smaller this time, but his groggy mind couldn't come up with anyone. He couldn't believe Phil had ratted him out to the nurse, how dare she drug him like that!

"Clint?"

Clint slitted his eyes open and groaned at the bright light, he blinked several times very rapidly until his gluey eyes weren't so sensitive to the bright, overhead lights. Natasha was sat next to him, hand clutching his own.

"'Tasha, how are you?"

"I'm fine Clint. How are you?"

"Just peachy." He grumbled, trying to sit up. He caught sight of Harry, still a soft, pale grey colour, his blue, spider web of veins standing out too much on his pale body, tubes and wires crossing all over him, his tiny, stick like arms taped up with a needle into each forearm and a shunt in the back of the right hand. He swallowed. "Do you know Natasha?"

He turned to look at her and her blank, steely face told him nothing.

"Know what Clint?" She asked him.

He licked his lips and wondered if Phil had only told Fury and it hadn't gotten to the Avengers team yet.

"I…I raped him Natasha." He admitted completely and utterly shamed. He couldn't even meet her eyes. "He was hanging there, completely helpless and defenceless, there wasn't a Beta around to tell me it was wrong or that I shouldn't do it, it was just me and him and I thought it was a wonderful idea to mate him, I couldn't control myself, like some goddamned teenager. I raped him as he hung there from the ceiling, his body broken and so far into his heat he was just begging. I couldn't stop myself."

Clint closed his eyes and felt a bubble of hysteria build inside him. He swallowed it back down hard and sniffed, trying for subtlety, but he knew he had failed when Natasha's hand clenched over his.

"I know, Coulson told us Clint, but I wanted to hear it from you."

He looked at her. "You knew and yet you still come here. Why?"

"You're an Alpha Clint, when an Omega is so far into their heat that they're reduced to keening and begging, then you stood no chance as soon as you scented out his pheromones. I knew you had no choice and none of the others hold it against you, though Steve is on the side of the Omega, we all know he comes from a time when an Alpha had to protect Omegas at all times, all of them knew that if it had been them in your place, they would have lost it as well. It's a bit harrowing knowing that if one of them had gone in to get Harry, they would be in your place right now. Tony, Thor, Steve, Bruce, Coulson, Fury, they're all Alphas too Clint. It's only me and Pepper who are Betas and we're more understanding of your position."

"I wish you weren't." Clint said miserably. "I hurt him 'Tasha. I deserve to be beaten to a pulp."

"If it makes you feel better Thor tried to come and beat you to a pulp when he heard you had disrespected an Omega so badly, but he was stopped when he was reminded that you were sedated and recovering from four gun shots. He's calmed down now, but I think he might still want to beat you over the head with Mjölnir."

Clint blanched as he remembered watching Thor spar with a training dummy. When he went for it, he went for it and it was worse if he was practising with Mjölnir, or mole hill as Clint had taken to calling it before Thor had taught him how to pronounce his hammer's name properly, as he had been raised a warrior of Asgard, he often slipped into the fight and forgot he was supposed to be training and practising, not destroying the entire of Stark Tower.

"Relax Clint; you know he won't fight anyone he considers as unable to fight back. You're in a hospital bed, wired up to IVs and with six holes in your body. I'm sure by the time you're healed he'll be calmer and you can explain it to him before he challenges you to the death for the honour of the Omega."

Clint nodded as he looked back to Harry in the bed next to him. "Has he woken up at all?"

Natasha looked at the twenty year old and shook her head. "No. He was dehydrated, starved and very, very hurt Clint, they don't expect him to wake up anytime soon."

"How hurt?" Clint asked.

"You don't need to know that at the momen…."

"I want to know Natasha!" Clint interrupted angrily.

"The only bone broken was his right ankle; it was a clean break, like someone had gripped the back of his heel and the top side of his foot and twisted it sharply, snapping it, either for torture or to stop him from running away in the unlikely event that he got away."

"He wasn't getting away from that, he was tied several times with different ropes through a thick, steel hoop screwed into the concrete ceiling. Not to mention how weak he must have been."

"They didn't feed him anything the doctors don't think, he's lost so much weight, and his stomach is shrunken and empty. It looks like the torture mainly consisted of sleep deprivation, starvation, blades and burns, though some of the fresher wounds held traces of salt. He still has all of his fingers, toes, teeth and eyes, you likely already know he still has his genitals, so they hadn't progressed to mutilation, though he had been tied up for so long the doctors thought they would have to amputate his hands or the very least his fingers. They couldn't get the blood flow back into them at first, but that danger passed and though his fingers twitch randomly, they think he'll have full use of them still, but it's his one leg that is causing concerns, the burns go so deeply and the reflexes have completely gone, they think permanent nerve and muscle damage, but they can't be sure until he wakes up."

"What…what about what I did to him?" Clint asked.

"No trauma, no tears, no bruising. The doctors say for an Alpha caught in an Omegas heat, you were surprisingly gentle. They didn't even check him because they didn't think he had had a heat period and he showed no signs of trauma or rape, but once they knew that he had been mated, they looked further and found semen inside him, only yours though."

Clint felt sick with himself as the surge of pride and happiness filled him at hearing that he had been the only one to mate the Omega. He wanted to hurt himself for what he had done and for what he was feeling.

"It wasn't your fault Clint, it was circumstance."

"You've mentioned everyone but Tony and Bruce, what do they think of what I've done?"

"Bruce is Bruce. Of course he doesn't blame you Clint and Tony's just glad it wasn't him. He made a huge show of saying 'I told you so' and he toasted you and Harry with a bottle of bourbon, thanking you that you hadn't made him go into the building to get Harry."

"Yeah, that sounds like Tony." Clint managed a weak smile. "What about the people in the building, I know they're all dead now, but did we find anything out?"

"Well, not all of the building blew up Clint, two men survived, as well as several rooms which are being scoured."

"So nothing yet? I want the people who did this to Harry to pay."

"I know you do, we all do. I'm being drowned in protective Alpha pheromones, Steve's the worst, he's always the worst, but Thor is a close second in the Mother Henning. They obviously have never seen a cornered Omega beating the shit out of an Alpha."

Clint snorted. "I still say you made that up."

"I'm serious, I was right there watching them Clint."

"You're a Beta; you're supposed to stop Alphas from attacking Omegas."

"Trust me, that Omega held his own. He was a vicious little fucker."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

Natasha snorted and patted Clint's hand. "Get some more rest; I'm going to go check in with Coulson and Fury."

"Come back and tell me?" Clint asked.

"Tomorrow, you need your rest."

"No, please, I don't want to sleep anymore."

"Don't make me get the nurse over here with another sedative." Natasha threatened.

Clint huffed. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

Natasha smiled and on the way out, she softly told the nurse that Clint was awake and to keep an eye on him. She knew that if Clint didn't fall back to sleep within five minutes, he would have another sedative shoved into him, and maybe in his mood and with his mind set, that was a good thing, the kindest thing to give him at the moment was a dreamless, medicated sleep.

* * *

Tony Stark cursed as he typed lightning fast on the damaged keyboard, trying to salvage anything at all from the electronics from the room that had been the least damaged in the explosion. He was disgusted to see some of his own equipment, including his brand new Starkpads.

His mind was going a thousand miles a minute as he tried to get any amount of information from the laptop in front of him. It was damaged, but it wasn't destroyed and he wanted the information it held.

He thought of those few adrenaline fuelled minutes when he had heard over the com device that Clint was in imminent danger, that he thought he wasn't going to get out. He still remembered the Cap's desperate question _'Can't you climb?!'_ and the strained answer in his ear _'Negative. Bastard's taken out my legs.'_

When he had gone through that skylight, not even knowing if he was on the right side of the building, seeing Clint stumbling around the corner a few moments later with a naked, unconscious body over his shoulder, had filled him with relief and with concern. He had seen the large, wet patches on Clint's trousers, the torn holes where the bullets had entered. He had counted five patches of blood, two visible holes in his legs and another at his waistline. He knew now that two of the four bullets that had been fired at Clint had gone in and come back out again, but two bullets had been caught in bone, but at the time it had looked like he had been shot several times in his legs and he had caught Clint as he stumbled into his arms, seeing the person who was most likely responsible for Clint's condition, if not Harry's as well, he shot off a blast before he could fully think it through, but even knowing what had happened after he had let off that blast, he regretted nothing, even if it did make his work harder, searching through singed and fire damaged electronics for any information that could help.

"Tony?"

He jerked up and looked around at Bruce, who was holding another laptop. He huffed out a breath.

"Am I expected to look through all of these computers and pads?" He demanded, even as he swiped the new laptop from Bruce and cracked it open carefully; hitting the power button and hoping it even came on at all.

"Clint woke up. Natasha said he was asking what we all thought of him."

"What, so birdbrain scores with the world's hottest Omega and he's asking what we think? Of course I'm jealous!" Tony teased.

"You know what he meant Tony." Bruce scolded.

"Yeah I know, but I'm sure Potter would much rather be mated by birdie than still be in that place."

Bruce nodded. "Natasha tried to tell him that, but in a softer way, she doesn't think he got it."

"He's been drugged up to his eyeballs for the last two days; of course he didn't get subtle. Now fuck off, I'm busy."

Bruce gave a wry smile. He loved talking with Tony, he didn't treat him any differently because of the other guy, he didn't side step around him or walk on eggshells around him, he wasn't worried about him getting angry and going green on him. Tony had always treated him just like the others, he teased him, spoke sharply and bluntly to him and wasn't afraid to speak his mind at all. He enjoyed being in Tony's company for that, and it was nice to be around someone whose eyes didn't show a flash of fear, a hint of hesitance if he stayed in the room for longer than a few seconds.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked, wanting to be around Tony just a little longer. Steve's henpecking over Clint and Harry's condition was making him edgy.

"Sure, get those pads over there and see what's on them, I haven't had a chance to look at them yet. I've spent two days on that laptop, three on the one before it and this one is not going to be any better." Tony hissed as he clicked keys at a faster pace than Bruce could keep up with.

He smiled and pulled up a seat opposite Tony and hit the power button for the first Starkpad, he wondered in Tony's reluctance to look at the pads was really because he was so busy with the laptops, or because he felt guilty for supplying the enemies with his technology, something he had done once before.

* * *

Harry flinched, feeling his leg jerk on the bed he was lying on. He blinked his eyes open, why was he on a bed? He looked around him, and tried to move as he saw a lot of people around another hospital bed. He tried not to make a sound, but his body was one giant throbbing agony and as he pulled on something on his stomach he sucked in a pained breath and the muscle in his leg started jumping under his skin, sending bolts of pain throughout his entire body and he grunted.

All at once he was surrounded by nurses and doctors and the people around the other bed had turned to look at him and he didn't like having so many people around him. As a woman approached him quickly, he forced his body up, ignoring the bone deep agony it caused him and he huddled up near the headboard, something pulled on his arms and he looked down to see various needles going under his skin. What were they doing? What was happening? Where was he?

He ripped the needles out with one hard jerk to each one, despite the nurses gasping and shouting at him not to. He was gasping for breath, he felt too hot, he couldn't breathe, his eyes were blurring as he tried to squash himself up against the headboard further.

Large, cool hands cupped his face and he found himself looking into the stern eyes, eye, of a man he had only heard of in stories and only knew the description of from gossiping work colleagues. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D Nick Fury. He swallowed, still panting as if he had run a mile, but his body was calming and with the dispersion of the rapid jolt of adrenaline, the pain was coming back with vengeance.

He couldn't believe it. S.H.I.E.L.D had come for him, the agents of his workplace had saved him from those people, he felt so relieved he could cry. Instead he sucked in lungful after lungful of disinfectant scented air. He hated hospitals so very much, they brought back pain filled, tainted memories that he wanted to forget had ever happened. He continued to breathe.

"Agent Potter, can you hear me?"

Harry blinked and from the look on the Director's face he had been trying to get his attention for a short while. He swallowed and sucked in a deeper lungful of air, calming himself, he could do this.

"Yes Sir."

"Do you know where you are?"

Harry looked around slower this time, taking in everything his eyes could see, noticing the familiar setting now that he wasn't panicking. He came here every single week for his suppressant tablets, he knew where he was and it slowed his racing heart. He nodded carefully, those large hands still cupping his face. "The med bay of S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters Sir."

"Do you remember who I am?" Another, softer voice asked and Harry's eyes slipped to the man standing behind and to the side of the Director.

A memory slipped to him, of spending the night under his desk, emerging to find a takeaway cup of coffee and a bag of blueberry muffins on a table between himself and this man. This man had given him that coffee and bag of muffins.

Harry nodded carefully, ignoring the twinges of pain in his neck at the action. "The muffin man."

There were snorts of laughter and the muffin man smiled widely at him, Harry looked around confused and worried that he had gotten it wrong, had someone else given him those muffins that day? It seemed like so long ago and he couldn't really remember, had he confused the memory with something or someone else? He made a distressed noise and swallowed around his dry tongue, now that sensation brought back fresher, more painful memories and he flinched violently.

"Calm yourself Harry." The Director coached him. "Perhaps you are remembering the day that Agent Coulson gave you a bag of muffins."

Harry nodded, thankful that someone knew what he was talking about and that he hadn't confused the information with something else.

"Could someone please get Harry a drink of water." The Director ordered, not taking his eye from Harry, it reminded him of Moody somewhat and he felt calmer, more reassured, even if the thought of Moody no longer being around caused his stomach to ache. He had liked the real Moody once he had gotten to know the grizzled, paranoid and grumpy old man who had harshly taught him how to protect himself though any situation.

A polystyrene cup of water was handed to him with a bendy straw and memories of it happening before made him jerk, spilling most of the water over his sheets. He hand spasmed and he dropped the cup in horror at the wet stain, before realising that letting go of the cup made the wetness worse. His entire body flinched as he remembered dropping a china teacup as a child and getting a hard slap to the face for it. His arms automatically rose to protect himself from a blow that never came.

Instead large hands slipped under his arms and cupped his face again; Harry peeked out and lowered his arms, coaching himself to carry on breathing, even if the panic and adrenaline had made his breaths shaky. He wasn't a child anymore, he was twenty years old now, the slap hadn't happened recently, it had happened at the Dursleys. He nodded to himself, the Dursleys couldn't hurt him anymore, couldn't do anything to him anymore, he hadn't seen or heard from them since he was seventeen. He was safe from them now.

"Harry, do you remember what happened to you the day Agent Coulson gave you those muffins in the break room?"

"I was abducted off the street Sir." Harry answered softly.

"What happened then?"

"The worst van journey in history. Someone should really think of putting padding in the backs of those things Sir."

A handful of people snorted, but Harry only had eyes for Fury, whose single eye was shining in amusement and determination, even if his mouth was a thin, straight line.

"Do you remember after that?"

"I was dragged out of the van, it was a really, really long journey, it was already dark, but it was impossible to sleep in the van when I was being thrown around so much. They put me in a chair and secured my wrists and ankles with plastic ties."

"What did they do to you in the chair Harry?"

"They liked punching; it started with my face and chest, but moved onto the sides and back of my head."

"What were they asking?"

"My name to begin with, then they asked where I worked, how old was I, just basic stuff to begin with."

"How long did they hit you for?"

"I don't know, I lost all track of time in that place Sir, I wasn't exactly counting every second."

Harry calmed himself and averted his eyes. He needed to stay calm; he couldn't shout at his superior, the Director no less.

"What did you tell them?" Fury asked as calmly and as patiently as he could.

"Nothing Sir. That's why they moved from my face to the back of my head, I'm sure they thought giving me a concussion would aide them."

"When were you moved from the chair and where were you moved to?"

"I…" Harry stopped and frowned, trying to bring the memories up in a timeline, but it was difficult and confusing.

"Take your time." He was encouraged.

"They moved me the next morning, or at least I think it was morning, the window was boarded up. They dragged me into a steel room opposite the previous room and tied my wrists separately with rope before suspending me from the ceiling until just my toes were on the floor, then they tied my wrists together until my shoulder blades touched."

"What did they do and what did they ask?"

"They started using blades and knives." Harry licked his dry lips as the memory resurfaced; his hand automatically fell to his nipple as a phantom pain spread through it. "That bastard sliced through my nipple!"

Harry looked down and used a hand to pull the hospital gown away from his chest; he frowned at the three stitches going through his left nipple. He swallowed at the amount of stitches he had, dotted around here and there like a grotesque tapestry. The biggest one he could see was on his belly, almost hipbone to hipbone. He flinched violently as the memory of having salt rubbed repeatedly into that particular wound took over and his knee jerked irrepressibly in response to the full body movement.

"Alright, calm down Agent Potter. Tell me what questions you were asked."

"My name. They wanted to know about you and S.H.I.E.L.D Sir, umm…Hydra weapons, they wanted to know where S.H.I.E.L.D was storing the Hydra weapons, they wanted to know about the Avengers Initiative. The most frequently asked question was about the S.H.I.E.L.D undercover base watching the nuclear armaments warehouse, they were desperate to know where that base was."

Fury took his eye from him for the first time since he had started questioning him, to give a pointed look to the muffin man, Agent Coulson, Harry mentally corrected himself, before turning to look back at him.

"What did you tell them Harry? We need to know what you said in order to counteract anything they might do."

"Nothing Sir."

"You told them nothing?"

Harry shook his head, adamantly keeping eye contact with the man to prove he wasn't lying, before a memory came to him that had his eyes widening. He _had_ told them something. Those strong hands tensed on his face, applying just a bit more pressure.

"What did you tell them Potter?"

"My name." He answered softly as he cupped the stitched slit in his belly.

"Your stomach wound was one of the longest and deepest cuts; it had very high traces of salt in it." Fury told him.

Harry flinched and slumped over his belly as much as he could while in so much pain.

"It hurt so badly, even more than the burns and the cuts. Though I think the slice through the nipple hurt the worst, but that happened early on, at the end I was so tired, they hadn't let me sleep for even a minute, every time I closed my eyes, or even if they just thought I was asleep they'd jerk me awake again, they wouldn't give me anything to eat, they controlled how much water I took in, everything I had was beaten down and when they introduced the salt to the belly wound, he asked me my name and I told him, I screamed 'Harry' at him several times. I knew even before I did it that I shouldn't have. Give them an inch and they expect a chasm and they did. They started throwing questions at me, mostly about the base watching the nuclear armaments, and they just kept cutting and adding salt, rubbing it into the wounds to make it worse and it hurt so badly."

"But you told them nothing else, only that your name was Harry?" Fury asked.

"It was the only thing I let slip, I swear it Sir and I'm sorry that I told them my name, I never meant to. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry because the only thing you told them was that your name was Harry? Don't be, older and bigger men than you have spilled their inner most darkest secrets at just the sight of a blade, you have nothing to be sorry for."

Harry perked up a bit at that. "So I can keep my job?"

"If you actually want to be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D still after this, then we'll be happy to have you once you've recovered."

Harry grinned at that and lay back in his bed, determined to recover and get back to work as soon as humanly possible, he wanted to bury his memories and forget that this had ever happened and move on.

"Of course there are two, non-negotiable conditions." Fury told him at the door. "Number one is that you see the agency psychiatrist and the second is that you move into Stark Tower for a while, I won't have you left vulnerable to be abducted again, not until I'm sure the people responsible for this are caught."

Then the Director was gone, leaving him in a room full of people he didn't know, even if he did know their names, to be fussed over by nurses with his stomach heavy and leaden. The very last thing he wanted was to see a psychiatrist and he didn't want to live with a bunch of super heroes either, he wanted his own bed, his own stuff and his own space, but he also wanted his job.

Sighing heavily, Harry allowed the nurses to carefully hook him back up to the IV's he had ripped out in panic, settling back as a doctor came over to check him over, doing all sorts of tests now that he was awake. It didn't last long, he was calm now, he knew where he was, he knew he was safe, as soon as he settled into the pillow he was asleep once again.

* * *

A/N: I'm in work tonight now, so the next chapter might not be out until next week some when, I'll look into working on Rise of the Drackens and Lycanthrope Factory too, but I'm sure these first three chapters can tide you all over until then.

Thank you to **Noctisis Rrhagia** for being the first **100****th**** reviewer** for this story.

**ptl4ever419:** Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics are really like their own universe, it's like trying to read a fandom that you know nothing about, the more you read the more you learn. I was given a link to a website that explains it all basically, /wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega . Everything listed here doesn't related perfectly to this story, as I'm putting my own spin on it, like every write does, but it explains the basics. I hope it helps.

Thank you all for your support of this story! I'm now taking on a challenge where I write a ficlet for all the Avengers (minus Natasha, because I'm not a fan of het) with Harry. So we'll see how that turns out.

StarLight Massacre. X


	4. Moving In and Meditating

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to **wolfish-willow**; whose review was just epic.

_Last Time_

"_Of course there are two, non-negotiable conditions." Fury told him at the door. "Number one is that you see the agency psychiatrist and the second is that you move into Stark Tower for a while, I won't have you left vulnerable to be abducted again, not until I'm sure the people responsible for this are caught."_

_Then the Director was gone, leaving him in a room full of people he didn't know, even if he did know their names, to be fussed over by nurses with his stomach heavy and leaden. The very last thing he wanted was to see a psychiatrist and he didn't want to live with a bunch of super heroes either, he wanted his own bed, his own stuff and his own space, but he also wanted his job. _

_Sighing heavily, Harry allowed the nurses to carefully hook him back up to the IV's he had ripped out in panic, settling back as a doctor came over to check him over, doing all sorts of tests now that he was awake. It didn't last long, he was calm now, he knew where he was, he knew he was safe, as soon as he settled into the pillow he was asleep once again._

Chapter Four – Moving In and Meditating

Harry was in and out of sleep a lot over the next few weeks as he remained in the med bay. He saw a lot of Steve Rogers, Captain America, who liked sitting by his bedside over those few weeks.

The first time Harry had opened his eyes and saw the large blonde sat next to him he had yelled out and jumped in horror. Of course the other Avengers were there visiting their injured teammate and Tony Stark just found his reaction to Steve hilarious.

Steve's excuse was that he wanted Harry to get to know them if he was going to be moving in with them, it was a nice thought, but waking up to a near stranger sat over him hiked his heart rate up for the first few times that it happened and frankly scared the shit out of him, but Harry had come to expect the large blonde man to be sat next to him now, it no longer bothered him.

Slowly but surely he got to know the Avengers, some of them were easier to like than others and everything about Thor was just strange, from his name, to his way of speaking, to how he liked dressing when not forced to dress normally, but Harry liked Thor, even though S.H.I.E.L.D had officially classed him as an 'alien' and he liked that he wasn't normal even if it did bring up memories of the wizarding world and how the magical people had dressed for the Quidditch world cup.

The only Avenger Harry felt really strange around was Clint and he didn't know why. He had been told that Clint was the one to rescue him, had been the one to put his life in danger, going into that building on his own, with no backup, knowing that the building was full of dangerous people, hell he had been fucking shot four times, just to get Harry out. He didn't understand.

Then, Harry's understanding and clarity had been all but ruined, he didn't know if it was stress, a coping mechanism or something fucked up in his brain from the amount of torture he had gone through, but the more he tried to figure out, the less he remembered.

He had asked, he had even asked Clint himself, but the man just apologised, very sincerely, and left the med bay quickly, leaving Harry so confused, did the man regret saving him?

"Are you alright?"

Harry blinked and looked up at Steve, who sat next to him in the perfectly normal chair that he made look fragile and delicate.

"Every time I think I'm getting better I realise that I've forgotten something else."

"You are getting better Harry." Steve told him. "You went through something so horribly horrific that most people would have given in, but you didn't. It's natural that your mind doesn't want to hold onto such terrible things, maybe you'd be best letting them go."

"You sound like the psychiatrist." Harry grumbled good naturedly.

Steve gave him a kind smile. "Are you excited to be moving in with us tomorrow?"

"I'm still not sure living with a bunch of misfits is a good idea." Harry smiled tiredly.

"You hear that? Misfits he calls us, after we save his life."

Harry gave Tony a look, before smiling. He unconsciously rubbed his chest, over his sliced nipple. The stitches had come out, but he had a lot of scars, he couldn't wait to get a salve to help get rid of them, it would have to be a weak one though, he couldn't let on that he was magical, though now that he was being watched so closely by government agents and a bunch of superheroes he wasn't sure any magical healing salve was a good idea, but he couldn't live with so many reminders on his own body, he just couldn't, so he was going to take the risk and hope they didn't lock him in a cell and wipe his existence from the face of the Earth so no one ever found him.

"You're pale again; maybe you should sleep a bit more." Steve fretted.

"I'm fine, honestly Steve. I've liked catching up on sleep, but too much makes me feel worse."

Steve looked worried again and Harry smiled and tried to sit up. He failed on his first two attempts and waved Steve away when he tried to help sit him up. He managed it on his fifth attempt with gritted teeth. His doctors and nurses didn't call him 'ridiculously stubborn' for no good reason.

"Have you found anything out about the people who did this?" Harry asked mildly, as he always did when any of them came visiting, which was pretty much every day, even though Clint had made his escape from the med bay the week before.

"I'm sorry Harry, nothing."

Harry frowned at the same answer he always got and something niggled in his brain.

"Are you lying to me?" He asked softly, his voice light and non-accusing.

Steve blushed ten shades of red and all of them shared a look and Harry knew he had been right, they were lying to him, they knew something.

"Contrary to what you might believe, I'm not stupid you know, no matter what I might have gone through, I can tell when I'm being lied to, but I trusted you all to not lie to me so I brushed it off and it turns out you have lied to me."

"Tony found the recorded footage of what happened to you on one of the laptops recovered from the abandoned warehouse." Bruce told him. Harry liked Bruce, even if he did make him slightly edgy and uncomfortable.

Harry nodded. "I knew they were recording everything, right from the beginning. The camera was near enough right in my face. That and they had to have some way to know every time I closed my eyes for longer than a blink."

"How you dealt with what they did to you, it was almost unreal." The only woman, Natasha, told him stony faced.

"It's called stubbornness. I have plenty." Harry answered stiffly.

"Plenty of stubborn men have cracked under the level of torture inflicted on you."

"I'm not most men!" Harry snapped. He regretted it immediately as his leg jerked out and sent a spasm through his entire body that had him clutching at it in agony. Two weeks and it still hadn't stopped doing that. It wasn't exactly getting worse, but it wasn't getting any better either.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Steve! I'm fine." Harry breathed deeply, shoving the duvet off of his body and staring at the heavily bandaged leg that was causing all of the problems. He gripped it on either side of his kneecap and growled at it.

"That's going to help." Tony couldn't help but quip.

"It makes me feel better." Harry refused to admit that he was pouting, but the indulgent smiles he got clued him in otherwise, they thought of him as nothing but a cute little Omega when he did adorable things like trying to growl like an Alpha, when he scowled or glared and pouted. He huffed and turned back to his leg, he could see the muscle twitching under the skin, even under the tight, heavy bandage. He wanted to hit his own leg, but the last time he had Thor had pinned him down and held him still for over an hour and his personal psychiatrist had made it so he was never left alone to 'exhibit his destructive behaviour on himself'.

He wasn't self-destructive; he wasn't suicidal or waiting for an opportunity to hurt or kill himself. He wasn't, he was just rightfully frustrated. He was stuck in a bed, his body was broken, his mind wasn't working like he wanted it to and he was kept in the dark about the very operation that had surrounded him, but not only being kept in the dark anymore, he was actively being lied to! If they were lying about this, then what else were they lying about? He knew they had made some breakthroughs and had information, but they weren't telling him. Why weren't they telling him? Hadn't he proven himself trustworthy already?

Harry growled again in frustration and his fingers dug into his leg muscles as they contracted painfully. As his leg jerked out again, Harry lost patience and gave in, hitting his own leg with the side of his fist, he went to do it again only for Steve to catch his hand and held it between both of his own.

Harry lost it and foolishly tried to fight Steve off, he ended up being pinned to the bed, breathing heavily and glaring up at concerned blue eyes as a nurse who had seen everything hurried over with a syringe filled with a sedative.

"If you put that into me I'm going to be furious." He hissed. "I've slept too much already; I don't want to be sedated!"

Steve held him more securely as the nurse came up to his bedside with the needle full of clear liquid.

"I'll never forgive you for this Steve." Harry told him icily calm, glaring up at those blue eyes.

"I'm sorry." Steve told him softly as the sedative was injected into his IV line.

"No you're not. Not yet." Harry trailed off, his eyes becoming heavy as he was sucked under the effects of the drug, fighting until the last moment; the last thing he saw was Steve's pained expression, then nothing.

* * *

"I feel awful." Steve said sadly as he combed soft fingers through a sleeping Harry's thick hair.

"He's becoming immune to the sedative; it'll only keep him under for an hour." The nurse told them before moving to dispose of the needle.

"Have you found out if he's pregnant or not yet?" Clint asked, his eyes glued to the little Omega in the bed.

"Nothing is showing up."

"Is it too soon, or do you think he might not be pregnant?"

"It could be either, due to changes in hormones, it is usually easier to tell with male Omegas due to the increased amounts of oestrogen if they're pregnant, but Harry's body always seems to be full of adrenaline trying to fight off the sedative, which confuses the tests we apply to check his hormone levels. His body really doesn't like the sedative being in his system."

"Don't you think we should tell him that he could potentially be pregnant?" Bruce asked calmly.

"Doctor Mandes doesn't think it's a good idea with his current state of mental health, it could be the thing that pushes him over the edge."

"Surely he deserves to know." Natasha said strongly. "It's his body. He has a right to decide if he wants to be pregnant or not."

"If the knowledge breaks his mind, then what?" The nurse argued.

"That isn't your call to make." Tony told her. "After everything he's been through, he deserves to know that he could be pregnant by someone he's now being forced to live with."

Clint sucked in a breath and avoided looking at anyone. He felt terrible enough as it was, but he had offered several times to tell Harry himself what he had done and the potential consequences of what he had done, but he was shot down by the doctors, who feared for Harry's mental state after he was told.

"He's being released into our care tomorrow. I'll tell him then." Clint cut in firmly. "He deserves to know what I did to him."

"It was out of your control Clint." Natasha told him firmly.

"You will do him irreparable mental damage." The nurse snapped.

"You underestimate him." Thor's booming voice silenced them all. "His strength and courage has surpassed all expectations! He has proven himself worthy; I would be honoured to fight beside him as a warrior."

"It doesn't matter if he can handle it or not, he has a right to know regardless." Bruce put in after Thor's loud announcement.

Harry groaned in the bed and rolled and the nurse rushed to check his vitals.

"I don't believe it. His body has eliminated the sedative already; he hasn't been under for twenty minutes!"

The nurse hurried out to get the head doctor, Doctor Mandes, as Harry rolled over again and scrunched up his face, his mind fighting off the heavy effects of the sedative.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you awake?"

"I don't wanna sleep no more." Harry slurred, his closed eyes blinking rapidly under his eyelids.

Harry's gorgeous green eyes opened, looking slightly glazed, but he forced his body up with pure pig-headedness and gave a very adorable, sleepy glare to Steve.

"If I've been asleep all night again I'm going to kill you. Super serum be damned!"

"It's been twenty minutes." Bruce told him, unable to help himself as he came closer and checked Harry's vitals, smiling wryly as the cute glare turned to him.

"Had better of been." Harry mumbled as he handed Bruce his body trustingly to be checked over.

"The sedative seems to be ineffective now." Bruce told him. "Your body barely goes under before fighting it off with increasing amounts of adrenaline."

"Yes, perhaps we should change the sedative this time and not the dosage of the regular one we have been giving you." Doctor Mandes stated as he came out of the office.

"You give me any more sedative and I'm leaving AMA." Harry threatened, moving to sit on the edge of the bed to prove he was serious, ignoring Bruce's hands that automatically moved to hover over his waist.

"You can't." Doctor Mandes told him. "Director Fury wants you to remain here until you are released."

"Today, tomorrow, not much difference if all I'm going to be doing is sleeping."

"It is a possibility that you'll be released tomorrow, not a certainty."

Harry's face fell. "Excuse me, what? I was assured I'd be released tomorrow!"

"The increasing evidence of your mental instability and self-harming tendencies has made me review the decision to release you at all, let alone as soon as tomorrow."

"Fuck this." Harry said, slipping to his feet and gritting his teeth against the pain that shot up his one leg and through his spine.

"What are you doing? Get back in that bed instantly!"

"Go fuck yourself! I'm leaving. You're not going to use me as some little lab rat so you can practise your needless little tests."

Harry forced himself to leave, knowing full well that he couldn't be stopped, that he could press assault charges if the doctor manhandled him.

"Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Fuck off Steve! I should have done this last week." Harry told him as he hobbled his way to the lift to take him down; thankful that he had demanded real clothes over the little gown he had been wearing when he had first woken up. He was wearing plastic covered, paper thin, washed out green, shorts and a matching tee-shirt in the same material that could be ripped from his body between two fingers, but anything was better than the gown.

"I think he's cute being a little rebel." Tony smirked, offering him an arm to grip onto when he ran out of wall to lean against. "He shouldn't have to be some doctor's pet."

"Thank you Tony, at least one of you understands!" Harry grumbled as he bashed the zero button to take him down to the ground floor, purposefully ignoring the cute comment.

"So where are you going?" Clint asked him.

"Home." Harry snapped. "I'm going to sit on my own settee and read my own books until I can forget all about this last month."

"Maybe that's not…"

"Say another word Steve. I dare you." Harry bit out as his leg almost folded under him. He was up in Tony's arms before he could gasp.

"Come on Princess, I'll get you home." Tony grinned.

"Put me down!" Harry demanded.

"Going to crawl home are you?" Tony snarked.

"If it means I keep my dignity, yes."

"Don't be so stubborn."

"That's rich coming from you. It's only stubbornness keeping you alive."

"Which is why I know when it's best to give in and let your friends help you."

"We're friends now?"

"Yes." Tony replied simply and Harry huffed, settling down in Tony's arms, though for the record he wanted it known that he wasn't happy being in this situation. Not happy at all.

* * *

He had been home for a day when Fury and Coulson paid him a visit. Harry was surprised they had waited that long to be honest, as he was sure that Steve had called them as soon as he had closed his front door on him, but he had used the time to pack, he knew the terms of him keeping his job were still non-negotiable, which meant that he was still going to have to live in Stark Tower with the Avengers.

He had packed all of his magical things into a secret compartment built into his suitcase before filling it with his books and of course his photo album filled with all of his moving, wizard photos, his non-moving, Muggle photo album and a few of his smaller photo frames were also in his suitcase too and he had a hold all with some spare sets of clothes and his electronics, he'd come back for the rest if he had to.

"So this is where you got to." Fury said as soon as Harry opened the door.

"I'm sorry Sir, but when I was told I might not be released, I took matters into my own hands."

"Your leg still isn't a hundred percent. How have you managed?"

Harry smiled and let the two men enter his home, nodding to the armchair where Clint was fast asleep.

"He won't leave me alone." Harry told them. "In the med bay, I thought he didn't like me, or that he regretted saving me from the amount of times he kept apologising and then leaving, but since I left yesterday, he's refused to leave me alone. He's a very confusing individual; I just wished my gut wasn't so messed when he was around."

"What do you mean?" Fury asked, sharing a slight look with Agent Coulson, which put Harry on his guard.

"I get a strange feeling around Clint and Bruce. Bruce I'm sure it's because of the Gamma radiation, but I'm not sure about Clint." Harry answered, watching them closely, neglecting to mention that he was likely more in tune to Bruce's radiation because of his magic, which was replenishing itself along with his climbing energy levels; also the wand in his forearm holster was helping a lot. He had strapped it on as soon as he got home; fuck S.H.I.E.L.D he wasn't going to be caught out like that ever again, Statute of Secrecy be damned.

"I'll have a talk with him." Coulson said softly. "He's likely still feeling guilty that he put you in the line of fire upon your escape."

"He doesn't need to feel guilty about that, I've told him myself. I'd much rathered have been shot several times on an escape attempt than remain in that place a moment longer. I'd rather have died than stay in that place any longer."

"You're still moving into Stark Tower." Fury told him sternly.

Harry nodded to the packed suitcase and the hold all bag. "Clint's taking me later today."

"He cares for you." Fury told him and Harry narrowed his eyes, he thought it was a strange thing to say.

"Must I go back to the med bay at all?" He asked changing the subject, thinking on Fury's actions and Clint's behaviour gave him a searing headache.

"No, I think that now you are out and stubbornly refusing to go back, we can leave you under the care of the Avengers and the abled Dr Banner." Fury stated and smirked at the grin that lit up Harry's face. "Just take it easy and keep yourself in one piece."

"I'll try Sir, but you have to tell these Alphas to stop pinning me down all the time, especially Steve and Thor, oh and tell Tony to stop carrying me."

"I'll be sure to tell them, but I don't think they can help themselves sometimes."

Harry chuckled as he sat back on the settee as his knee started to shake. His muscles were getting stronger the more he used them over the past week or so, but it was painful and slow going and when standing still he couldn't help but pick his injured leg up so it didn't throb as much. It was going to take months, if not years, before his leg was even half of what it used to be, which is why he had sent an owl to St Fiacre's Medical Centre for Magical Injuries and Illnesses when Clint had fallen asleep asking for something to help musculature and nerve damage in a leg as well as a weak scar reducer. He had told them to send the requested items to him via Muggle means and had given Stark Tower as the address.

"How are you feeling in…other parts?" Fury asked.

"You mean my mind, don't you?" Harry sighed.

"Yes, that is what I was asking."

"Honestly, after those first few days where I lived through it all again like some vivid dream, I'm remembering less and less Sir. It's like my own mind is trying to lock away the memories and the more I try to stop it from happening, or the more I try to remember, the faster the memories go. I'm sure I'm missing a few memories about what happened, so I haven't given you the fullest report I can until I get those memories back. The psychiatrist said to just let them go, but I can't Sir. It happened to me, it was terrible and I hate that it happened to me, I wish it hadn't, but it did and I can't just let myself forget such a huge part of me, whether bad or good, I can't just forget, I won't let myself forget."

Fury nodded curtly in understanding. "I'll tell your psychiatrist so that your sessions can be altered to your preferences, though perhaps there is logic in what you are being told, if you don't stress your mind into remembering, perhaps the memories will come to you."

Harry frowned in thought and he barely noticed as Fury and Coulson left him with the assurance that he would move to Stark Tower as soon as Clint was awake. He decided to give it a go. He had been trying to force his mind to remember traumatic and harrowing memories, perhaps if he took a step back and let his mind sort through them, the memories would indeed come to him instead.

* * *

Being around Harry constantly was wearing down his barriers. Clint couldn't believe he had fallen asleep at all, let alone for most of the night and half of the morning. He had only woken up because Harry had fallen down the stairs, the loud banging and clattering and Harry's loud and violent cursing could have woken the dead.

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked desperately as he sat Harry on his lap, holding him tightly, one hand automatically falling to the maybe baby while the other one pressed Harry's shoulder into his own body, fingers rubbing gently over the place on Harry's neck that he had licked over when he had raped him, where he could have bitten if he had wanted to bond with Harry indefinitely, but he hadn't been so far gone as to force bond an Omega to him, not ever. No Alpha was ever too far gone as to bond to an Omega without their knowledge and every single plea that Alphas gave in court of not knowing they had bitten an Omega, or that they had instinctively done it, or hadn't known they had bonded to an Omega in heat, always fell through and the Alpha was always prosecuted very harshly.

"I'm fine Clint, it was only three stairs." Harry said with a long suffering sigh, even as he held the leg that had given in on him so close to the bottom of the stairway.

"You could have really hurt yourself!" Clint admonished, his heart beating far too fast.

Harry rolled his eyes and tried to get up, but Clint's arms tightened around him and the man stood up with Harry cradled in his arms like a child. He huffed.

"Put me down Clint. I'm fine!"

"Just…just let me do this Harry."

"Why?" Harry asked suspiciously.

Clint had promised Steve that he wouldn't tell Harry the full details of what had happened on the rescue attempt until they were both safely in Stark Tower, but it was so hard now that they had the privacy, his conscience was burning to confess his crimes to Harry, knowing the little Omega had fallen down the stairs while potentially carrying his baby soured something inside him and he wondered if telling Harry he might be pregnant would help him be more cautious, or less.

"I just want to Harry. I was the one who saw what happened to you with my own eyes, the others saw it through a recording, I was there, I smelt that room, I took everything in, took you in and it's made me so very protective, I don't want to take anything away from you, least of all your hard earned independence, but I want to help you in any way that I can, in any way that you'll let me."

Harry sighed. "I promised Fury that we'd go to Stark Tower as soon as you were awake."

Clint hated that too, that whenever he mentioned seeing Harry in such a state he closed up and changed the subject. He could understand to a point, but how was he supposed to tell Harry what he had done when Harry wouldn't even let him talk about seeing him in that room.

He nodded in response to Harry's statement and moved to wake himself up fully so that he could be on guard as they made the long trip to Stark Tower located in Manhattan. He hoped that he could hold himself together until he was around his team for support.

* * *

Harry glared at Clint's hunched back as they made it into Stark Tower. Clint was carrying both of Harry's bags, not letting Harry do it himself and Harry was angry about it.

Using a voice authentication password after identifying himself and Harry to something called Jarvis, they were let in and Harry was ambushed as soon as he set out of the lift, still glaring at Clint.

"Harry, how are you?"

"I'm fine Steve, really. I'm going to kill Clint in his sleep, but I'm fine."

"What has Hawkdick done now?" Tony asked, sauntering over with a grin, wearing a pair of ripped, patchy jeans and a washed out band tee-shirt.

"I can carry my own bags!" Harry told them seriously.

"Steve, Harry fell down the stairs this morning." Clint shot over his shoulder as he went to put Harry's bags in a guest room.

Harry cursed violently as the Mother hen swept him immediately off of his feet and set him on a stylish settee, Bruce coming to check him over.

"It was three stairs!" He hissed. "I slipped more than I fell; I went down on my arse."

"Maybe we should take you to a hospital, just to be sure."

Harry full out glared at Steve. "You just try to get me in a hospital now Steve, I'm not having it! I agreed to come live here so you could all watch over me because the Director wanted me too. I am here purely because I want to keep my job, so back off!"

"Leave him alone." Natasha said sternly. "He's right, nothing is going to happen to him from falling down three stairs, you're all being ridiculous. You have to forgive them Harry, Alpha idiocy is like a terminal disease, you'll never be rid of it."

Harry snorted, but it didn't stop the frown that crossed his face as Bruce's hands lingered on his waist. It pulled something up in his mind, of when he had actually fallen down the stairs, hadn't Clint's hand lingered on his stomach as well?

He frowned harder and tried to think back, but between Steve's overprotective worry and Tony's excitement in showing off his tower, pointing to doorways and telling him where they led, he didn't have time to think on it, or the energy to spare dragging through his own memories.

Apparently they were currently in Tony's penthouse, which was at the very top of the tower, and was the main 'entertainment' floor, which really meant that it was the floor where all of them spent the most time together and was the only floor which had a kitchen slash dining room. The floor below the one they were on was where everyone else had rooms and if what Tony was listing off was any indication, this tower had absolutely anything and everything anyone could possibly need.

"When you built this tower, why did you make so many guest bedrooms, it's almost like you knew the Avengers would be staying over."

Tony got a look on his face. "Fury said that you had read the mission reports on the Tesseract. You should know that after the battle with Loki and his aliens that I had to rebuild half the tower, I just rebuilt it differently to how it was before."

Harry frowned as he tried to remember reading those reports. It sounded familiar, but it was like trying to catch smoke. He got close and then it just drifted away. He shook his head.

"I don't remember."

"That's alright Harry." Bruce assured him. "This is normal, your mind wants to shut down to recalibrate itself, it wants just a few hours where you aren't forcing it to do something or to remember a memory. Your mind wants to go in one direction, but you keep dragging it in a different one, just let it go, just for a while and you'll be fine."

Harry frowned even harder before he stopped and sighed as he realised he was trying to get his brain to think through every word Bruce had said to him, maybe he _was_ bringing this on himself.

"Okay, I'll try it your way Bruce. No one ask questions or anything that will make my brain work. I'm just going to stay here and not think."

Everyone agreed and went about their own lives and activities, while Harry employed his limited knowledge of Occlumency once more and shut off the part of his brain that was questioning absolutely everything happening, from moving into Stark Tower with the Avengers, the behaviour of said Avengers, why they kept touching his belly, or if it was just a strange coincidence, the part of his brain that was trying to hunt down all the memories of his capture, the part that was analysing everything everyone said or did around him, everything. He just shut it off and didn't think, coaching himself to breathe. He could do this; it was how he had coped through everything that had ever happened in his life. He breathed.

* * *

"He's doing it again." Clint pointed out as Harry's breathing stuttered; he stopped breathing for several moments, before sucking in a deep, gasping breath only to repeat.

"He's fine Clint. He's meditating." Bruce said with a long suffering sigh.

He had been through this several times, the first time Harry had done it had panicked them all, but as soon as Bruce had established that Harry was deeply meditating, he dragged the others away to let Harry carry on. If meditating helped him feel better, helped calm him down and helped his mind reclaim the lost memories, then he was fine with Harry's breath catching every now and then, it wasn't doing him any harm. He was more worried about Harry finding the memory of what Clint had done before they had a chance to explain it to him themselves. It would look terribly bad if Harry found that memory before they explained, it would look like they were hiding it or covering it up to protect themselves.

"I know you're worried, but he'll be fine." Natasha coaxed, trying to get Clint to stop staring at Harry.

"He won't be if he finds the memories of his heat while he meditates." Tony said as he came into the living area, wiping his dirty hands on an already dirty cloth.

Bruce sighed heavily as Clint swung around to look at Tony horrified, he hadn't wanted to worry Clint about what Harry could unintentionally uncover during his quiet time.

"Is that what he's doing?" Clint asked panicked.

"It might be." Tony shrugged, throwing the dirty cloth into the bin and moving to his bar area and mixing himself a drink. "His mind has been so stressed since he woke up, he's forcing himself to try to remember every single detail of every minute, it's why he can't remember anything, there's a mental block and the more he presses on it, the tighter it grips him. If he stops pressing against the barrier and lets it come down on its own little by little, he'll remember bits and pieces until he finally works it all out and remembers everything. I told you from the start that it wasn't a good idea to keep it from him, he should have been told as soon as he woke up, not waited until he was more recovered or until the doctor gave the all clear or until he was here with all of us, he should have been told immediately, especially about the maybe baby."

"I don't want him finding out that way." Clint murmured.

"Then tell him and soon." Tony answered sharply as he took his drink and sat heavily next to Harry, who jerked out of his meditative state and looked at the older man owlishly.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked him gently.

Harry blinked several times, considering the question carefully, before he smiled softly.

"Good. I feel great actually. I'm tired though."

"If you want I could show you to your room." Tony said from beside him.

Harry nodded, not even fighting or shouting that he had slept for too long over the past two weeks. He let Tony help him to the lift to go down a floor, saying a soft goodbye to Bruce, Natasha and Clint, the only three that were still on the top floor.

"Are you really alright?" Tony asked as the lift doors slid closed on them.

Harry nodded. "I feel better than I have for the last week. The stress of being in the med bay bed all day, every day, being surrounded by doctors and nurses all the time, it got to me more than I thought it had. I saw home for a day before being pushed onto you like this and I guess I really did need to just shut my brain off for a while, if not to remember what happened but to stop me from being so stressed and pulled apart. I need to feel like me Tony, not like a victim or a survivor, I don't want people surrounding me all the time, fussing over every step I take, I don't want to be reminded what happened, oh the poor little Omega, what a tragedy, I want to be left alone to sort through my own mind and memories, I want to recover on my own. I can't deal with Steve constantly hovering around me, or how Bruce treats me like glass, or Clint's weird behaviour changes or Thor in general. The only people who seem to treat me like a person, like I have thoughts, feelings and opinions are you and Natasha."

Tony threw an arm around him and gave him a hug. "I am an Alpha and I feel all protective and worried over you just like everyone else, but I'm a genius also, my mind runs quicker and more thoroughly than anyone else's, which helps when it comes to making split decisions. It's hard to explain in a way that you'll understand, I know how and why it works, but it's hard to get others to understand, but because my thought process is quicker, before I act I've already gone through several scenarios in my mind, when the others are pestering you and reacting to you falling or even coughing, their first thought is to help you, to protect you, but I've already had those baser thoughts and moved on to what will best suit or help you from your perspective. They don't move onto that higher thought function quick enough so they stick with the protective urges where I can step back and let you breathe."

"Thank fuck for geniuses." Harry muttered as he leant against Tony.

"If they get too much for you, come find me in my work shop, it's the very bottom floor, mine is the door on the left, Bruce's is the one on the right."

Harry nodded and yawned as they finally stepped out of the lift that had been on the right floor for at least five minutes and Tony led him down a hallway.

"That room's Natasha's, the one further down on the opposite wall is Clint's. That door is Steve's, the one further down and opposite is Pepper's, you'll meet her soon, she's lovely and a Beta, so you'll be getting some more people in your corner soon, Pep will beat away the nasty Alphas for you."

Harry chuckled at that as they moved past Pepper's door towards the end of the corridor.

"This is a bathroom, you might want to wake up before Thor, apparently he leaves the bathroom in a right state after his morning shower, must be something to do with being a godly Prince, we're trying to domesticate him, but it's slow going. This room is Bruce's, that one is Thor's and this one is yours." Tony said happily, pointing to the door that was next to Bruce's, but was closer to Thor's room.

"Thank you Tony, you didn't have to put up with me."

"Hey, anyone willing to keep my secrets is cool with me. You go and get some sleep, you can eat after you wake up, I'll try to keep the Capt. away from you if you sleep through breakfast, but I make no promises if you don't show up for lunch. He's the biggest Mother hen I've ever known."

Harry chuckled as he opened his bedroom door and said a soft goodnight to Tony, who was already halfway back up the corridor and just waved his arm without breaking his stride or turning around. He flicked on the light switch in his room and shut his door softly, sliding the small and simple bolt lock closed. As soon as the door was closed and locked, his forced mask of calm crumbled and he pressed his back against the door, his expression one of horror as he slid down until he was sat on the floor with his arms wrapped tightly around his shaking knees.

He remembered everything; everything that had happened to him during his captivity, all of the questions, his responses, the endless torture and even the heat period he had slipped into whilst held prisoner and the strong, alluring Alpha who had come to help him, the Alpha who had mated with him. That Alpha had been Clint.

* * *

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day for all you who celebrate it, here in Wales it's already gone, we celebrate St Dwynwen's Day on the 25th of January, though of course most here celebrate both holidays, because we're greedy.

I will be updating all of my stories today, still writing two of them though so I need to get a move on, as a Valentine's gift to you all. Have a wonderful day. This update is the first one out of four.

Thank you to **Sinley,** for being the **200****th**** reviewer** for this fic.

There is going to be more information on Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics in the next chapter, I realise that the website I gave last chapter didn't work because FF are grumpy about posting outside websites on their site, but if you go to Google and type in fanlore, it will be one of the top sites to come up and then you just use the search tool to look up Alpha/Beta/Omega and that works fine.

**xxMizzxPaigexx:** An Omega will have their first adult heat between seventeen and twenty, but they have juvenile heats as they go through puberty, which aren't as powerful, aren't fertile and are more like a preheat than anything else, just a shadow of the real thing to get them used to it gradually before the actual adult heat starts.

**darkest magic**: Harry really is twenty years old, as stated in the very first line of the first chapter. I have obviously moved the Harry Potter timeline forward a decade to fit in with the Avengers timeline as Harry was born in nineteen-eighty, which would have made him in his thirties, but in this fic he was born in nineteen-ninety, because I needed him to be twenty. The events of the Avengers movie took place in 2008 in this fic, because the Avengers are an already established group and the timeline is currently in 2010.

His wand, as revealed in this chapter, was in a safe along with his magical photos, government agents are searched when entering a government building, it would have been impossible to avoid suspicion when carrying a piece of wood strapped to his body. He wanted to be normal and fit in for once, not come under scrutiny from a powerful agency for having his wand on him.

The Elder Wand, like in canon, was buried with Dumbledore, the Hallows play no part in this fic.

It was explained in the first chapter, and supported in the following two chapters, that everyone Harry had known was dead and that he was alone in the world.

**Super-Twi-Harry-Heroes-Fan**: Yes Harry is a wizard and yes this is an AU where every single person born is either an Alpha, Beta or an Omega.

**tamzinggrace**: Oh yes, completely intentional, I have a whole bunch of OCs that I have carved and fleshed out over the years, all of them are reusable and I do use them often. Nasta is one such OC, he appears in several of my written fics that I have never posted, long before he won a main place in Rise of the Drackens. The Healer, Maximilian Almus appears not only in Rise of the Drackens but also in Life and Trials and well done for spotting that Bartholomew Nasri was one of the throw away dominants I put into Rise of the Drackens. They're just characters I've spent time creating, so I won't let them gather dust or just use them once, I use them as often as I need too, altering something in their personalities here or there to fit what I need.

**darkroses:** This is going to remain just a Clint/Harry fic, there will be no one else in their relationship. I hope you enjoyed the Avengers finding the recording; I will be going into their reactions from it later on, though not too much later on, in the next chapter or two.

**crazypagen**: Alpha females do not exist, only Alpha males. Females can only be either Batas or Omegas, but they can't be Alphas. Males can be all three social ranks. Harry won't be forming a telepathic link with Clint, but they will be bonding and Clint will be courting Harry as much as a very stubborn, wilful and uncooperative Harry will allow.

I hope you're all still enjoying this, especially after the cliffhanger I've left you on, I'd say sorry, but I'm not all that sorry I'm afraid.

StarLight Massacre. X


	5. Barrier's Broken

A/N: Dedicated to a Facebook follower, Jessica, who had a nasty fall from a horse, I hope you get better soon lovelie and aren't in too much pain.

_Last Time_

_Harry chuckled as he opened his bedroom door and said a soft goodnight to Tony, who was already halfway back up the corridor and just waved his arm without breaking his stride or turning around. He flicked on the light switch in his room and shut his door softly, sliding the small and simple bolt lock closed. As soon as the door was closed and locked, his forced mask of calm crumbled and he pressed his back against the door, his expression one of horror as he slid down until he was sat on the floor with his arms wrapped tightly around his shaking knees. _

_He remembered everything; everything that had happened to him during his captivity, all of the questions, his responses, the endless torture and even the heat period he had slipped into whilst held prisoner and the strong, alluring Alpha who had come to help him, the Alpha who had mated with him. That Alpha had been Clint._

Chapter Five – Barrier's Broken

Harry didn't sleep at all as he stayed in his room overnight, thinking, stressing his mind again so soon after getting all of his memories back. It wasn't his brightest move, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't understand why he hadn't been told.

He swallowed as he remembered the conversation with the doctor soon after he had woken up. He had asked to be put back on his suppressant tablets, he hadn't remembered he had gone onto a heat period at that time, he hadn't realised until tonight that he had gone onto his heat period, he had been told he was lucky, that he hadn't had one. The doctors had outright lied to him. He hated S.H.I.E.L.D. agency medics.

They had told him that his adrenaline levels would interfere with the suppressants, that his body wouldn't absorb the tablets with such high levels of the hormone in his blood so there was no point in him taking them yet, but they had lied to him, blatantly lied. It was because none of the suppressants, tablets, liquid or injection, could be taken when pregnant, they damaged the placenta.

Harry's mind flashed to Bruce's hands hovering over his waist, always hovering over his waist and when he had fallen down the stairs, Clint's hand had been on his belly, over the baby he had forced onto him.

Perhaps they weren't so concerned for him after all, just the baby he was carrying, was that why he had been moved into Stark Tower, not for his safety, but for the baby. He swallowed harshly, he wondered where Director Fury and Agent Coulson stood, but then he rationalised that Agent Coulson had been kind towards him even before he had been abducted. He calmed himself at that, he still had his job. He could get through this. He would come through it fine, like he always did. He had been at rock bottom before and he had crawled his way back up again, he could do it again easily. He only needed himself.

Dragging himself to the large bed against the one wall, Harry took in his surroundings for the first time. He was obviously in a guest bedroom, but it was set out to be a permanent room, there was a large, empty bookcase, plush carpet and a faux fur rug, tasteful paintings on the walls, two matching bedside tables, each with their own lamp and a small, two seated settee against another wall.

It was a very beautiful room and Harry knew immediately that Tony had not designed or decorated this room, or any room in this tower. It had probably been done by some up and coming interior decorator who had been paid far too much to do it.

Harry went through his bags until he found the silver, three photographed, hinged frame. In one side of the frame was Sirius and Remus, it had been taken at Grimmauld Place before his fifth year and despite everything, the two men had been caught in mid laugh together. The opposite frame held a picture that Remus had taken on the sly, of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George, also at Grimmauld Place before his fifth year.

They all had cleaning rags in their hand, but Fred and George had started a water fight and it was chaos from there. Remus had whistled and as all of them stopped trying to push their rags into each other's faces and snapped their heads around, worried that it was Mrs Weasley who had caught them, Remus had taken a photo. Harry loved the look on everyone's faces, from horror, to surprise, to guilt to wide-eyed shock, but all of them were happy, they were all amused and having fun, it was right there behind all of their eyes. He missed them; he missed all of them, why did they have to die? How could every single one of them have died in the war that he alone had survived? Why was it always him? Why did it always have to be him?

The middle photo was of his parents and it was one of his favourite pictures of them. His Mother was holding him gently in her arms wrapped in a white blanket, the back of the photo said he was three weeks old. His Father's left arm was around his Wife's waist tightly, protectively, his right arm was under hers, supporting Harry's slight weight gently, lovingly, a big hand coming out from under his Mother's arm and cradling the back of his head lightly.

Not many Fathers were happy to have Omega sons; he had heard horrible stories of disownment and abandonment, of abuse and battery, all because their son had been born an Omega, something so far out of their control that couldn't be stopped or helped. But seeing the look on his Father's face, the love and adoration that was as clear as day in his Father's eyes, Harry knew, even without Sirius and Remus assuring him so, that his Father had loved him regardless of his born social rank.

Alpha, Beta or Omega, his Father hadn't given a damn and had loved him as a person regardless and had given his all to protect him, had made the ultimate sacrifice and given his life to give his Beta mate and Omega son just a bit more time to escape. It made dealing with all the Alpha dicks out in the world easier, knowing that his Alpha Father had loved him so much and that if he had been alive; he would have protected him for life, would have protected him from any and all Alphas, and even Betas, who thought that Harry was beneath them or was good for nothing other than a fuck. Though he was forever glad that Vernon and Petunia had both been Betas and that Dudley had been a born Beta, it made going through his juvenile heat periods as a teenager easier with no Alpha around to make him beg.

The stronger, real, breeding heat cycles didn't start until an Omega was between seventeen and twenty, which made everything that much easier at school, but there was a reason that Alphas and Omegas were separated from each other in the sixth and seventh year, Harry has seen that when Ron and Seamus had come into their adulthood in the N.E.W.T years. Neville and Dean had both been Betas, as well as Hermione, but Harry had been the only one in Gryffindor who had been an Omega that year and he was overall grateful that he hadn't started his full heat cycles until he was nineteen and already on suppressants thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.

His very first adult heat cycle had been as a captive torture victim, tied up and bound, his body already broken, his mind vanished under mating instincts that the heat had drowned him in and he had absolutely no hope of controlling and his very first Alpha mate had been a man who was supposed to have saved him.

Harry swallowed and hugged the photo frame to his chest. That wasn't fair, Clint _had_ saved him and really, wasn't it better to have been mated by Clint than any of his abusers and torturers? A full body shiver rolled down his spine and his leg jerked painfully. He bit his lip when a sob escaped, he breathed in deeply. He could do this, he didn't need anyone else, he just needed to breathe.

He was fine, he was alive, Clint may have mated him in heat, but it couldn't have been helped and he wasn't bonded, he touched the part of his neck where a bonding bite would rest and his skin was still smooth and unmarked. Clint hadn't taken that from him at least and he was so thankful.

He was too confused to be bonded at the moment, baby or not, he didn't want to be bonded at just twenty years old. He didn't want to tie himself to one Alpha male for the rest of his life at just twenty years old. It was far too soon to make that sort of life choice, it wasn't like a marriage, which was divorceable, an Alpha/Omega bonding was for life, really and truly until death does us part and Harry didn't want to hurt Clint, let alone kill him to sever a mate bond.

* * *

Clint could barely eat his lunch as Harry remained a no show, for all his claims that he had slept too long already, if he was still asleep then they should have taken him off of the sedatives a week ago, because it seemed he slept better and longer without them.

"This is the second meal he's missed today, not to mention that he missed dinner yesterday." Steve fretted, barely touching his own food.

"He'll be fine Cap." Tony sighed; eating his own lunch like nothing else mattered.

"He need's something to eat."

Tony dropped his fork and sat back from the table. "Jarvis, where is Harry?"

"He is in his room Sir."

"What is he doing in his room?"

"He is sleeping Sir."

"He's sleeping Steve." Tony said to the super soldier. "Do you really want to wake him up to force him to eat, knowing perfectly well that you'll force him to sleep again after he's eaten? Don't try to deny it. He'll be fine, he needs more sleep than he needs food anyway, food is fuel, sleep is healing. Let him heal before he starts filling up on fuel."

Steve clenched his hands together, but he nodded and picked at his own lunch, his worry for Harry encompassing almost everything else. He knew Harry was hurt, knew he was suffering and he just wanted to help in any way that he could, he wanted Harry to be better and to be happy again, the young man had been suffering even before he had been abducted and seeing him being treated like dirt by other Alphas, and even Betas, in the workplace made him want to prove that not all Alpha's thought that Omegas were sex toys or something to wipe their feet on as they passed. He just wanted to help.

"Do we have to do anything today?" Clint asked.

Natasha shook her head as she stood to put her plate in the sink; it was Steve's turn to do the dishes. "Not unless there is an emergency, but I am going to the workout floor if you'd like to join me to blow off some stress."

"Harry…"

"Is perfectly capable of navigating the tower by himself." Tony cut in firmly as he finished his own lunch. "Nowhere in this tower is off limits to any of you, though I do prefer you to leave my workshop, bedroom and personal bathroom alone, that applies to Harry as well, he knows not to leave the tower, everything else is up to him, including where he goes, why, when and who with. Give him some space and privacy, none of you would like it if I started hovering and hanging all over you all day. He needs space."

"Tony's right." Natasha told the unconvinced Alphas. "You're going to drive him back into a hospital bed if you don't leave off him. He's already admitted to feeling stressed, panicked and overwhelmed, he needs his own time and methods to get him past what happened, you're all making him feel worse and to be honest it's pathetic watching you all clamour him, if you had any brain cells you'd realise you're all being detrimental to his recovery, but you just don't see it."

There was silence after Tony and Natasha had finished speaking as the remaining Alphas thought over what had been said, the thickest skulls to get through would be Thor and Steve, both of them were ages old and set in their beliefs and fully believed that they were right, but them being right or not was not going to help Harry any and they needed to realise and understand that as long as they pushed, pulled and forced their views on Harry, he wasn't going to get better or recover.

"Sir, Master Harry has stirred from his bed." Jarvis' cool voice cut through the tension.

"See Cap, he's perfectly able to wake himself up without anyone calling him and I'm sure he'll find his way up here when he's ready." Tony grinned, standing up and putting his plate in the sink.

Tony was happily proven right when not twenty minutes later the soft ding of the lift sounded and a showered and dressed Harry came into the kitchen with a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Are you hungry?" Tony asked. "We made you something just in case you woke up."

"Thank you; I could eat a manky cat." Harry answered softly, he still sounded tired even after the amount of sleep he had already gotten. It was worrying, but Tony forced the urge to clamour Harry and settle him back into bed. Harry was capable of getting himself to bed if he felt like it.

"I wouldn't recommend it." Tony grinned instead as he patted the chair he had just vacated and served Harry happily when he sat down.

"Did you shower by yourself?" Steve asked with a swallow, he had tried not to ask, but his concern won out.

"No, my invisible friends helped me." Harry answered with an eye roll. "Of course I showered by myself. The very last thing I want now is for anyone to see me without clothes on. I had enough of that when I was tied to the ceiling in that steel room."

"You're using clothes as a barrier." Bruce commented softly.

"I know, but I feel…" Harry shook his head and breathed out heavily.

"Go on, you can say it. Vulnerable." Tony coaxed, knowing the feeling well from his time spent in the cave in Afghanistan hooked up to a car battery, the only thing keeping him alive. "Say it."

Harry swallowed and nodded. "I feel vulnerable out of my clothes. I don't like how open and defenceless I am when I'm naked. I don't want anyone to see me naked, even if I have to crawl in and out of the shower by myself and sit in the bottom to clean myself, I don't want any help."

Steve nodded at that, letting it go, but urging Harry to eat, which he did. He managed to eat almost as much as Thor, but with more manners and a slower pace.

Natasha had dragged away a reluctant Clint, Bruce had gone down to his lab and Tony wanted to go to his workshop, but he was very, very reluctant to leave Harry with just Thor and Steve.

"How are you feeling?" He asked Harry, hating that he sounded like an Alpha dick, but he wanted Harry to be alright without him.

"I'm fine." Harry said automatically, patting his belly, which had distended quite a bit until he really looked at least two or three months pregnant.

"Congratulations friend!" Thor boomed laying a big hand over Harry's belly.

Harry laughed happily. "The doctors told me that that would happen for a while yet, it's because my stomach was shrunken because I hadn't been eating properly before I was taken and when I was stuck there, they didn't feed me anything, so any decent amount of food now is going to make my stomach bloated for a while, until a time when my stomach stretches to accommodate more food."

"You're having a food baby." Tony snorted in amusement, smirking.

Harry grinned and nodded. "It'll go down in an hour or so."

"Come on, you can come and wait it out with me in my workshop if you want too."

"What do you do in your workshop?" Harry asked as Tony pulled him to his feet.

"All sorts of stuff, come and see."

"My plate." Harry complained.

"It's Steve's turn to do the dishes." Tony assured him as he tugged Harry further away.

They ran into Natasha and Clint on the way to the lift and Clint's eyes didn't leave Harry's distended stomach.

"It's the food." Harry told him coolly, his hand lowering to cup the bulging belly. "Starvation does terrible things to me, though Thor has already congratulated me."

"It's his food baby; he's going to call it Thor's Bane." Tony put in as he bashed the button to call the lift.

Harry chuckled. "Thor's Bane? Why is the baby Thor's?"

"He cooked." Natasha told him.

"But I read in one report that you all complained about Thor's cooking, it had made you sick during an emergency." Harry frowned.

They all shuddered. "Let's just say as an alien Prince, he was not used to cooking anything. He's gotten much better over the years, though Bruce's cooking will always be the best. Though we order take out very often, mostly for dinner."

"Do you cook Harry?" Natasha asked. "You can join the rotas when you're better if you aren't completely terrible."

"Oh I love cooking." Harry smiled. "I never used to, but since coming to America and getting my own place and my own space, cooking what I want I've rekindled a new love for it. A man has to eat; he can't live off of take away food forever."

"Tell that to Tony."

Harry chuckled and stepped into the lift, keeping Natasha between him and Clint, he didn't think they noticed, but he wasn't comfortable being in such a closed space with two Alphas, one of which was the father to his baby.

He'd have to see what wizard treatments or supplements and things pregnant Omegas took and look into buying some, maybe he could owl St Fiacre's again for information. He needed all the help he could get and he'd have to sort out his house too if he was going to be living there with his baby. He'd need to make it into a steady home, not just a shaped pile of brick to keep out the weather.

Thankfully Natasha and Clint got off soon enough; Natasha tugging a reluctant Clint out of the lift, Harry swallowed a shudder. Why did Clint always want to be around him now? In the hospital, when Harry had wanted him around to thank him for saving him, the man barely came, but now he was out of the hospital and knew what the man had done, Clint couldn't leave him alone. It was strange and he couldn't understand it.

Tony tugging on his arm brought him out of his thoughts and he automatically smiled at the frowning man in front of him, happily following as quickly as his leg would let him, ignoring Tony's arm around his lower back, the man was a genius, there's no way he didn't know what had happened or the results of what had happened, that meant he was in on it all too. He had been lying to him as well, everyone in this tower was lying to him, lying by omission maybe, but it was still lying to him.

He had decided last night, while he was still awake and thinking long into the early hours of the morning, that he would wait and see what they did, he would wait and see if they were planning on telling him or if they were going to keep him in the dark and pretend that nothing had happened, that one of their own hadn't mated and impregnated him on a rescue mission. He wondered if the latter was true, and they were all going to pretend it hadn't happened, what they were planning to do when he had the baby, would they tell him then? Would they let him think it was the baby of one of his captors? They couldn't honestly think they could ignore or get out of this situation, so what the hell were they planning to do?

* * *

Bruce was worried about Harry as the twenty year old once again slipped into his own mind, staring at a single point outside of the window, the considering frown back on his face. It had been a week since Harry had arrived at Stark Tower and he had slipped in neatly and easily, never bringing attention to himself, happily sitting in the same spot and reading his books for hours on end, Steve usually joined him, but Harry liked spending most of his time with Pepper, who he had met, befriended and got on famously with, or Tony.

Bruce was sure Harry was slowly figuring out what had happened to himself, the amount of times he slipped into his own memories in this last week proved that the meditation was working, Harry was remembering more and more, about the reports and projects he had worked on, more personal information about the Avengers, more of what had happened to him in that steel room, it was only a matter of time before he uncovered the full truth of what had happened that day and he had urged Clint to tell Harry, but the man's courage was failing. It seemed impossible to conceive that Clint couldn't face up to his own actions, to what he had done, but the insecurities he held from his youth and facing Harry's reaction to what he had done kept him from telling the twenty year old, which was potentially disastrous if Harry figured it out on his own as he had tried to explain several times to Clint over the past week. All of them were on edge and were urging Clint to tell Harry, hissing at him that Harry deserved to know the truth and that every day where he didn't tell him was risking Harry finding out himself.

"Bruce?" Harry asked softly. "When can I go back on my suppressants? I don't want to slip into preheat with a tower full of Alphas. It's coming up again soon."

"The doctors told you that your hormone levels were too high." Clint said slightly too fast.

"No, I couldn't take them because my adrenaline levels were too high, now I'm not being sedated all the time; my body isn't running on adrenaline to fight it off. My levels of adrenaline are not going to affect the suppressant anymore. I want to go back on my tablets…_today_." Harry said forcefully with a glint in his green eyes.

Bruce was at a loss as to what to do or what to say. If Harry went on the suppressants he could end up killing or deforming his own baby, if indeed he was even pregnant, it had proven impossible to get a blood sample from Harry without drawing suspicion and they weren't willing to take the chance if he was actually pregnant, they had to tell him and he gave a pointed look to Clint, who had gone very pale.

"Enough is enough; you have to tell him Barton. Now." Stark announced as he stood from his bar area with a glass in hand.

"Tell me what exactly?" Harry cut in politely, his green eyes gone steel, his hand clenching around his glass of water. No one dared to move or make a sound.

"Tell me _what_?!" Harry repeated more forcefully, glaring at all of them, before the sound of breaking glass and Harry flinching, suddenly moving to hold his bleeding hand as he cursed explicatively, had Bruce moving to help.

He caught the towel Tony threw at him and after making sure there was no glass in the cuts through Harry's palm, wrapped the towel around it.

"There…there is something about your rescue that we…that I didn't tell you about." Clint told Harry hesitantly.

"You were the only one in that building; you're the only one who knew what happened on that rescue mission. I was unconscious." Harry hissed. "What happened?!"

"Things got more complicated than I first thought." Clint said after a heavy, convulsive swallow. "Everything was smooth until I entered the room with you. You were on heat Harry, that room was swimming in your heat pheromones. Please believe me when I say I couldn't control what happened next."

Clint looked imploringly to Harry, who stood as tall as his spine would allow, his face blank, his eyes furious and steely, even with a towel wrapped around his hand. He did not say a word, he didn't urge Clint on or tell him to stop or give any indication of what he wanted to happen or hear next.

"I…I succumbed to my baser instincts and I mated you Harry. You can't go onto the suppressants because we're unsure if you're pregnant or not. I'm so sorry, I never would have chosen for it to be this way. I swear."

Harry didn't move, didn't show any outward signs of shock or disgust, but then they knew Harry was good at pretending from the recording they had all seen from his time in captivity. He had been solid, unshakable. He may have screamed his throat bloody and writhed in his agony, but he had not talked, he hadn't given those men a single piece of useful information to use against the Avengers, against himself, against S.H.I.E.L.D or against America. He had hung there and taken absolutely everything that had been dished out and he had emerged as this wonderful, if slightly odd, twenty year old man that he was slowly getting to know and very much enjoyed the company of.

"Please say something Harry." Clint nearly begged.

"I know." Was all Harry said, staring at Clint heavily.

Bruce felt his stomach sink. Harry had figured it out himself; he shared a look with Tony, who had also understood Harry's words and their damning meaning.

"You know?" Clint repeated, his expression confused.

Harry nodded. "I figured it all out last week, it all clicked into placed. I am pregnant, I did the test three days ago and it came back positive. What I want to know, is why the fuck did you not tell me as soon as my eyes opened?!"

Harry's raise in volume startled them all into blinking as he turned from calm and collected to absolutely furious with burning eyes.

"Where do you people get off treating me like this?!" He shouted at them all, glaring at them all and Bruce felt an inch big. "Didn't you think I would have liked to have known that my first ever adult mating was while I was in captivity, off my fucking head from torture, protecting the lot of you no less?! Didn't you think I'd like to know that I was possibly, and I'm now confirmed to be, pregnant! I could have had everything sorted weeks ago if you had just TOLD ME!"

"Just calm down Harry." Steve tried to urge.

"Do not even dare tell me to calm down!" Harry hissed, his eyes flashing as he tried to burn a hole through Steve's head. "I have been waiting for even a hint that you were going to tell me, but I had to trick an explanation out of you by asking after my suppressant medication. You people are sick!"

"We wanted to tell…"

"No! Do not tell me anymore lies! I don't want to hear how you wanted to tell me but couldn't, how you were ordered not to or any other lie the doctors have already used! I don't want to hear it! You could have told me if you had wanted to and you didn't!"

"We did want to tell you, we were leaving it to Clint, it was his mistake to make up, it was his place to tell you what he had done; not ours, only he's a coward." Tony cut in.

"I trusted all of you, how can you treat me this way? What would you have done if I hadn't figured it out myself? Were you going to let me carry on my life thinking that the baby I carry was the result of my torture, that one of my captors had done that to me?"

"Of course not!" Steve replied appalled.

"Then why didn't you tell me?! Why wait this long? I've been awake for almost a month! I'm a month pregnant Steve!"

"It's my fault, not theirs Harry. I should have told you, but I couldn't face what I had done."

"I don't like being kept in the dark over my own life Clint. You were playing with my life and my baby's life! What gives you the right to decide what I know about my own life and when?" Harry demanded.

"I'm sorry; I _was_ going to tell you."

"While you were running around after yourself, deciding yet another day I wasn't allowed to know that there might be a baby inside me, I could have done irreparable harm to myself and my baby! I've been trying to get better, but it's no secret that I can't eat a lot and I regularly forget to eat if not reminded, did you think on that while you were deciding not to tell me? Do you think if I had even the smallest doubt of whether or not I was pregnant I would have dared walk up and down stairs with a gammy leg? If you had just told me everything would have been fine!"

"I know that now and I'm sorry." Clint replied choked.

"Not good enough." Harry stated coldly. "It's not good enough that I've had to wait for so long for you to finally get around to telling me and even then I had to force it out of you!"

"Please let me make it up to you, I only wanted to do what was best."

"Telling me would have been for the best!"

"The doctors said it could destroy your mind." Steve said softly.

"Well I've known for a week Steve and I'm still mentally abled. Do you really think so little of me as to think that finding out I had been mated and impregnated would be the thing to break me? Those _people_ threw their all at me, I survived through all of what they did to me and you think this, _this_ of all things, would be what had broken me?"

"We're not saying what you went through wasn't terrible, that you weren't strong and you dealt with what happened really well, we were just worried that maybe this would be one thing too much." Bruce tried to explain.

"I don't want to hear it, I don't." Harry said and he turned around and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Clint asked desperately.

"To bed." Harry shot back snappily.

"It's four in the afternoon."

"I don't care."

Harry went down in the lift and Tony sighed. "Jarvis, keep an eye on him for me, I don't want him leaving the tower."

"Of course Sir." The response was immediate and Bruce sighed, he looked at Clint and wanted to hit him, he wasn't a violent man, so maybe that explained why Thor hit Clint on the back of the shoulder and sent him flying to the floor. Thor wasn't truly a violent man, but he was much more aggressive than Bruce allowed himself to be.

"I told you that you should have told him sooner." Bruce told Clint before leaving for his own lab and he hoped that Harry would be alright, he really liked the strong, stubborn, independent twenty year old and the last thing he wanted to do was push him away or isolate him when he was already so very isolated from everyone around him. He'd give him some space and then go and see him, hindsight was always a rueful thing, he knew now that he should have told Harry right from the off, no matter what Steve said about it having to be Clint because of the sake of honour or waiting for Clint to actually pull his shit together. He should have taken the boy aside and told him and now it was too late, now they could have alienated Harry for good.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter is going to carry on from this chapter, but it will also flashback to the week that was missed in Harry's POV so don't worry about the time skip in this chapter, you won't miss a thing.

But it's exciting still for me, especially now that they know that Harry knows! I do feel sorry for them, they really were in a lose-lose situation, but I'm not too sympathetic, Harry's right, he wouldn't care which one of them had told him as long as he was told, I never planned to have Clint turn into such a coward, it just sort of happened unfortunately, but I doubt that's much comfort to Harry.

To clear something up before I'm asked though, Harry thought he was certain that he was pregnant from everyone's reactions, he didn't just instinctively know or anything, he was basing his realisation on the behaviour of everyone around him, but they were just being cautious in case Harry was pregnant because they didn't know for sure either, Harry confirmed this with a pregnancy test, as mentioned in this chapter, we'll be seeing that in the next chapter though, so don't worry about missing Harry's reaction. But they now also know that Harry is pregnant with Clint's baby, their reactions to this will show up in the next chapter once it's sunk in a bit.

Thanks to **Curalium Lacrimo** for being the **300****th**** reviewer**!

**Sinley**: No, the Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics are something I added to The Avengers; it's not part of canon. The Avengers is a comic book series and also a film series, which I do recommend, they're brilliant films, even if they did change the actor who plays Hulk.

**Catzi**: I have made the dynamics of the Alphas, Betas and Omegas of this particular universe my own, so where other stories do have Alpha females, worlds where only males exist or where there are only Alphas and Omegas etc, but I wanted to make this my own, so there are common elements I'm following, but everything else is very much open to interpretation.

**Zana20**: The Harry Potter universe and the Avengers universe is the same. Harry didn't go through any dimensions or anything to land there, if he flew back to London, Diagon Alley would still be there, the Ministry is still there, so is Hogwarts and Privet Drive. They're the same universe, but every single person in the world is born either an Alpha, a Beta or an Omega and yes Harry is still very much a wizard capable of magic.

**Crazypagan**: No, Hedwig is dead still, but he didn't owl St Mungos because, really, think of the poor owl having to fly from New York to London and then back again with a package. St Fiacre's is the magical hospital in America, much closer, which means no abuse of poor owls and that Harry gets the medical supplies he needs much faster.

No, he was shot four times, two got stuck in bone and two were through and through, which means the bullets went in through the backs of his legs and came out the fronts of his legs again, making an entry wound and an exit wound, but only two bullets were shot to make them, which left him with six bullet holes that Tony talked about seeing in chapter three.

St Dwynwen's Day is pronounced, Dwinn-when, it's one of the easier pronunciations.

I hope all of you readers enjoyed this chapter! Chapter 6 should be up soon but Chapter 69 of The Rise of the Drackens will be up first, I just need to get the sex scenes finished and then I'll be done with it.

StarLight Massacre. X


	6. Repentance

_Last Time_

"_I told you that you should have told him sooner." Bruce told Clint before leaving for his own lab and he hoped that Harry would be alright, he really liked the strong, stubborn, independent twenty year old and the last thing he wanted to do was push him away or isolate him when he was already so very isolated from everyone around him. He'd give him some space and then go and see him, hindsight was always a rueful thing, he knew now that he should have told Harry right from the off, no matter what Steve said about it having to be Clint because of the sake of honour or waiting for Clint to actually pull his shit together. He should have taken the boy aside and told him and now it was too late, now they could have alienated Harry for good._

Chapter Six – Repentance

Harry sat on the settee in his bedroom and rubbed his belly gently. He was feeling queasy, but he wasn't entirely sure if it was the pregnancy he had recently found out about, or because of the confrontation with the Avengers about their treatment of him and the baby he carried.

He had still been hoping, even though he knew it not to be true, that they had known nothing about it, or at the least some of them hadn't known anything about it, but he had known, not even that deep down either, that he had been clutching at straws. They had all known and had all chosen to keep it from him.

He wondered what to do next; did he even want to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D? Was it too dangerous for him to leave? He sighed. He just wanted to go home and be on his own, but the best he could do at the moment was lock himself up in his room in Stark Tower.

He doubted very much that he would be allowed to leave, not now that it was confirmed that he was carrying the baby of one of the Avengers. It made him such a huge target if anyone found out he had the baby of an Avengers member, he and his child would constantly be in danger, but could he take that risk of staying for protection and confirming he had the baby of one of the Avengers? Or should he leave and hope no one would ever find out. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what would be the best or the safest thing to do and he had finally cracked and let the Avengers know that he knew what had happened which only served to confuse him more.

They had been waiting for Clint to tell him personally, but for whatever reason, the man had seemed unable to do so. It seemed to have mattered a great deal to Steve and to Thor that it was Clint personally who told him, likely because Steve came from a different time and Thor was raised differently, where one took the consequences of their actions. He had read the report of Thor being banished to Earth without his powers or his hammer, that must have been a horrible experience for him at the time, being thrown onto a different planet without any of the ways he knew of to protect himself, alone and unknowing of when he could go home. But the others? Natasha, Tony, Bruce and Clint himself.

Harry sucked in a breath. Pepper. He had become very fond of the efficient redhead, who was very dangerous in her own right and had helped him deal with the overprotective Alphas when she had come back from her business trip to New York. He hoped so very much that Pepper wasn't in on it too; he wanted at least one person to have not known.

"Jarvis?" He asked softly like he had seen the others do on occasion, wondering if the A.I. system would even answer him.

"Yes Master Harry?"

Harry smiled happily as the voice of the A.I. surrounded him.

"Is Pepper here please?"

"Miss Pepper is currently in her rooms Master Harry, she is reading."

Harry grinned ruefully as the A.I. had guessed his next question before Harry had thought of it.

"Do you think she'd mind being disturbed?"

"Miss Pepper never minds Master Harry."

"Thank you Jarvis, please just call me Harry, no master business."

"As you wish…Harry."

Harry was back in a good mood as he slipped out of his room and counted the doors down the corridor. He remembered her room because it was closest to the bathroom on the side away from it.

He hesitated slightly, before biting his lip and knocking softly, half hoping that maybe she hadn't heard him. He wanted to know if she had known, but he didn't at the same time. He was confused and he was just about to flee back down the corridor when the door opened sharply and Pepper's stern look slid away into a smile and she invited him inside.

"Please come in and sit down Harry, I thought for a moment you were Tony, but he wouldn't have knocked. What can I do for you?"

Harry sat on Pepper's settee and she sat next to him, moving her book to her bedside table.

"I…I don't know how much anyone has told you…"

"About your captivity? Tony showed me some of the footage to help me understand."

"But not all of it?" Harry asked curiously.

Pepper shook her head. "No, I saw bits and pieces, excerpts from the footage; I think only top S.H.I.E.L.D agents and the Avengers saw the whole footage and it took them almost the entire time you were in the medical bay to do so. Why, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm pregnant Pepper. I slipped into a heat period while I was caught and I'm pregnant." Harry said without hesitation, not beating around the bush, watching her reaction closely.

The uncontrollable widening of Pepper's eyes told him that she hadn't even known that much and a small burst of hope flared within his chest.

"Oh Harry, I didn't know, I'm so sorry, have you got everything you need? I'm sure I could get you anything you needed." She told him, plucking her Starkphone nimbly from the bedside table and started scrolling through it.

"I'm only a month pregnant; I ordered the tests and some books for the information."

"The parcels that arrived for you."

Harry nodded, not telling her that the first package to arrive was full of salves and potions for his leg and scars.

"I did the test three days ago and it confirmed I was pregnant."

Pepper touched his hand and when Harry didn't flinch away, she held his hand tightly.

"You must be feeling so pulled apart, I can't believe Tony didn't tell me!"

"He didn't tell you because it wasn't one of the people who captured me that impregnated me Pepper."

"Then who…"

"The only other person to get into the building."

"Clint?!" She asked, her eyes going saucer wide, her hands clenching reflexively.

Harry nodded. "He was caught in my heat pheromones, he mated me and then got me out, I feel so torn, I want to beat the shit out of him Pepper, but he risked his own life to save mine, he was shot four times trying to get me out, he could have been killed or permanently crippled trying to get me out. I don't know what to do. If I scream and hit him, it seems ungrateful, but I don't want to thank him either."

Pepper blinked and she understood his dilemma in an instant. She stood up and she strode to her door, stomping on her high heels.

"You leave this to me, I'll sort this out." She said sternly.

Harry trotted after her as fast as his aching leg could manage, he got into the lift just as the doors were closing and he panted against the wall.

"Just stay behind me alright Harry; I'll make Clint regret he ever started breathing."

Harry couldn't breathe enough to talk, but as soon as Pepper arrived on the main floor of Tony's penthouse, she strode off and Harry could only hobble after her, wondering what she would do. He didn't know what he wanted her to do.

He had to stop when his leg started having an 'episode' but he could still see Pepper approaching Clint, who was sat morosely on the settee.

"How dare you!" She shouted before she reached him and Harry smiled as he watched the Avengers turn around and recoil away from an angry Pepper.

Tony rushed to intercept her but she just pointed at him and he backed away holding his hands up.

"Pep, it's not what you think."

"It's not what I think? What I think Tony? No! This is what Harry thinks, when were you going to tell me?!"

"You sound just like Harry." Clint said emotionlessly, bottling himself up.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but he is pregnant with your child, the baby you've forced on him under rape charges!"

Clint went white and then green, Pepper backed off when she saw his blue eyes widen, his biceps and forearms bulging.

"You're the first person to say that out loud." Clint whispered, not looking away from whatever he was looking at in front of him. "I did rape him."

"It was an accident Pepper." Tony told her, taking her arm in a hand.

Pepper regained herself, firmed herself as she caught sight of a pale, ash white Harry standing by the lift.

"No, I know you, you would have found everything out, S.H.I.E.L.D would have had Harry's heat schedule on file, you knew that there was a chance he would be on heat. You sent an Alpha into that building knowing there was a tortured Omega inside who could have been on heat!"

"It wasn't that simple Pepper, Clint was the only person we could get in the building, we tried everything to get through the doors, but they were too well covered." Steve told her. "We tried to get Natasha into the building to help, but we'd lost contact with Clint, we didn't know where he was or what was happening, when he came back online, he had already found Harry and had reported not smelling any pheromones, we didn't think there was any need to send her in after that."

"But what happened, if Harry was on heat, and he obviously was, then his pheromones would have saturated the entire building."

"There was an industrial air conditioner in the room with him." Clint said his eyes too wide and his breath too short. "It was behind the heavy steel door, I pushed it open and I could see Harry, the room was cold, but I thought it was a torture technique, I couldn't smell anything. I reported it in and stepped into the room. It took me three steps to notice the air conditioner, four to realise that I could smell heat pheromones and my mind was just gone. I regret what I've done so much and I'll never be able to say sorry to him enough for what I've done to him, but believe me when I say I couldn't control myself."

"You are trained to deal with these situations!" Pepper refused to relent.

"Nothing I have ever gone through, in life or simulation, has ever trained me for that degree of pheromone in such a high stress situation!" Clint argued. "I regained enough of myself after only one mating to realise what was going on and what was happening and I got us both out of there, lesser dominants would have stayed for the entire heat period, putting Harry in further danger. I did what I could given the situation!"

"Why was the level of pheromones so high?" Pepper asked curiously.

"Those people had Intel they shouldn't have, they knew the Avengers were coming and they were busy rigging their hide out to prevent us getting access." Tony told her. "I think they left Harry locked up alone for the entire time, letting his pheromones accumulate in that one room so when Clint entered, he was hit with a concentrated dose."

"That and it was my first adult heat." Harry put in softly, his nausea and pain lessened now as he approached them carefully.

"How could it have been your first adult heat?" Bruce asked. "You said that before, but adult heats come between seventeen and twenty, but anything over eighteen is really very uncommon, seventeen is the average and more than eighty percent of Omegas have their first heat at seventeen and ten percent have them at eighteen. There have only been less than a hundred documented cases of an Omega having their first adult heat at twenty and nearly all of them were victims of very severe childhood abuse."

Harry looked away. "There is a lot you don't know about me Bruce, a lot S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't know. I felt when I would have had my first adult heat. I was seven months into my nineteenth year."

"You were in S.H.I.E.L.D's employment at nineteen." Tony said softly, his mind working far quicker than anyone else's.

"I was already on the suppressants. My capture was the only time I haven't taken them, I'm always on time for them, I've read reports on Omegas in the field who forgot them or their injection wore off while they were undercover and I swore I wouldn't be like them, only now I am."

"We'll get you through this Harry." Pepper promised. "If you need anything, you come to me and I'll get it for you."

"Thanks Pepper." Harry smiled. "But I just want to try and move on and forget that this ever happened."

"What about the baby?" Clint couldn't help asking.

"This is my baby." Harry told him with a glare he couldn't quite help. "Under the Omega Protection Act, that explicitly says that any baby created out of duress, rape, coercion, force or blackmail by an Alpha has no right to the Omega or the resulting baby created, you have absolutely no right to my baby or to even call my baby yours, accident or not, remorseful or not. If you touch my baby, I'll break your neck."

A shiver rolled down the entire length of Clint's body and he fell back against the settee and Harry almost felt bad. Almost, but not quite. Clint had saved his life, but he would not allow the man anywhere near his baby.

He needed to plan and he needed to get away, he couldn't stay here. He realised that now. He could easily find another job, could easily buy another house and set up a home for him and his child, the hardest part would be getting out of Stark Tower and away from S.H.I.E.L.D and all its associated parties, but for his child he'd try his hardest to do so.

* * *

Clint felt like slime, no, he felt worse than slime, he felt disgusting and dirty and so ashamed of himself. He swallowed hard and bitterly, Harry was enforcing the Omega Protection Act, which meant he had absolutely no rights to his own child. He flinched and settled back into his bed. Harry was just down the corridor, but he didn't know if he should go and plead his case or just leave Harry alone.

He had never felt hesitation like this before, had never not known what to do in any situation, not since he was a child and had had his older brother Bernard 'Barney' Barton looking after him.

He didn't want to be kept from his first and only child, the only child he was ever likely to have. He wanted as much access and time with his child as possible, but if Harry legally invoked the OPA laws and put on the baby's birth certificate that the baby's Father was just an Alpha who had violated him, there was nothing he could do and he would never have access, not even supervised visits, with his own flesh and blood.

He covered his face with his hands and wondered if Tony and Bruce were right, if it would have been so much better if he had just told Harry, but he had thought he had more time to come to terms with what he had done first. He didn't exactly go around raping Omegas often, this was the first and he couldn't stop thinking of himself as a rapist. He had raped someone and every time he thought about it bile slipped up his throat and he had to give a hard swallow to get it back down into his clenching stomach. When Pepper had told him so bluntly to his face that he had raped Harry, he hadn't been able to breathe; she had been the first person other than himself to say it to him.

He drew in a shuddering breath. He had listened to himself and not told Harry once before, he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He stood from the bed and gathered his courage, he just hoped Harry didn't scream or anything, Thor's room was the closest to Harry's and he didn't fancy taking on the God of Thunder tonight.

He took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door, just in case Harry was sleeping. He wanted to explain himself, but he didn't want to wake Harry up if he was sleeping.

He held his ground, still hearing his team calling him a coward, and he knocked again. Harry opened the door almost as soon as he stopped knocking. He was sleep tousled, but wide awake, so he had likely been tossing and turning in bed, but not actually sleeping.

"What do you want?" Harry asked.

"I…" Clint breathed in deeply and centred himself. "I need to explain to you Harry."

"I know what happened Clint; I don't need you to explain it to me, I understand what happened perfectly."

"Please, just let me explain Harry, not about what happened, I'm sure you're sick to death of hearing about that, but at least let me explain why I didn't tell you sooner."

Clint was just pleased that Harry was even considering it, a thoughtful frown on his beautiful face, he had fully expected the door to be slammed shut on him.

"Fine, come in, but if I tell you to leave, I want you to leave immediately. I have Pepper and Natasha on speed dial."

Clint didn't think on why Harry thought of women protecting him before men, he was sure Harry had all of them on speed dial, including Steve, Thor, Tony and Bruce, all of whom would run to help him, but it was with Pepper and Natasha he threatened with, not with any of the strong, physically imposing men. Maybe Harry thought he wouldn't fight a woman? If that was the case then perhaps Harry didn't think him a complete piece of slime after all.

Clint was not offered the settee or the bed, so he stood, even as Harry sat on the edge of the settee, his knee jerking helplessly. Clint felt bad for him, he knew how damaged the muscles and nerves were and how painful it jerking out of his control would be.

"Well?" Harry snapped through his thoughts and he took a deep breath, knowing how hard and painful this would be for himself to admit, but he didn't care anymore, he just wanted to make things right with Harry.

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid Harry. I know I have absolutely no good excuse for keeping it from you, I know that nothing I can say will ever be a good enough excuse for you, but it's the truth regardless. I was afraid. I have never, ever done anything like that to any Omega before, honestly I keep the hell away from any and all Omegas, you read the reports on the invasion of Manhattan, you know I was taken over by Loki and was forced to do things I never would have dreamed of doing, I almost killed everyone I work with, everyone I ever felt any sort of connection with or feelings for, I almost got Agent Coulson killed with the storm I led on the Helicarrier and being caught in your pheromones was a lot like that and it terrified me. I had lost my mind again, lost my free will of my own actions and it reminded me so acutely of when Loki took me over that I panicked. I hated feeling so out of control, so lost. What I did to you was terrible Harry, I know, but if I had had any choice in the matter, I would never have done it, never. No matter what people are always saying about Alphas, we're not all like that, I do not go searching for Omegas on heat to take advantage of, you can bet your last dollar that Steve would rather eat his own eyeballs than do anything to disrespect any Omega and Tony is so afraid of being sued for everything he has, he has every one-night stand screened for their born rank to make sure he doesn't bring back any Omegas. None of us meant to hurt you Harry, I'm sorry."

Harry was quiet for a long while before he responded.

"That's all well and good Clint, apologising might make you feel better, might help ease your guilt and let you sleep at night, but how does it help me? I'm still pregnant; I'm still going to be forced to have a baby I didn't want at just twenty years old. I'm not ready Clint; I don't feel ready for this!"

"We can all help you if you'll let us Harry. You don't have to be alone. If you don't bring up the Protection Act, I can help you with the baby, you can be sure Steve and Tony, Bruce and Thor, Natasha and Pepper will all help you, all you have to do is let us help. We want to help, _I _want to help Harry, to make up for the botched rescue attempt, please let us help you."

Harry was clearly thinking and Clint didn't want to spoil it by saying something that would ruin it, so he bit his tongue.

Harry sighed. "I'll think about it, but nothing you can ever say or do will ever make me forgive you for what you did to me."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, truly I wouldn't, I just want the chance to prove I'm not some sort of lowlife, scumbag who runs around looking for Omegas in vulnerable states to take advantage of."

Harry nodded. "I will think about it Clint, but right now I want to sleep on it."

Clint took the hint and he left happier than when he knocked on Harry's door, he felt lighter, even though Harry would likely never forgive him, he hoped they could patch things up and maybe move on from this.

* * *

Harry still couldn't sleep after Clint had left, even though he was tired. He had been adamant that he was leaving, but now he wasn't sure it was the best idea. His mind was racing, trying to work out any ulterior motives Clint could possibly have. He was just giving himself a headache.

He placed a hand on his still flat belly, wondering if the baby was Clint's ulterior motive, he had said not to invoke the Omega Protection Act which would leave him no legal or otherwise claim to the baby, was Clint trying to take the baby from him or did he just want the chance to see the child once it was born?

He growled and tossed in the bed again, he didn't know what he was supposed to think or do, he didn't know what to do and he had absolutely no one to ask for their opinion or for their help, he didn't know what to do.

He still remembered the pregnancy test he had owl ordered from St Fiacre's, he had sat in the bathroom in the middle of the night, praying that none of the Avengers woke up and needed the toilet because he didn't think he could move as he clutched the little stick in his hands.

When it had flashed up pregnant, three weeks, he had backed up into the sink and almost fallen into the shower bath. He had had a small panic attack in the bathroom, grabbing Jarvis' attention, who asked him coolly if he should get Master Tony or Master Bruce.

Harry had swallowed hard and shook his head, biting out a few breathless no's. He had clutched that test so tightly it had almost cracked. He had forced himself to breathe and splashed cold water onto his face. He had made sure he had all of the packaging for the test, leaving no evidence behind, before he rushed to his room and locked himself in. He shoved the test and the box into the depths of his suitcase and he had not slept at all for the rest of the night, his mind racing with thoughts and his heart heavy with feelings and emotions. It was then that he knew for sure that Clint had impregnated him and he had started getting his head around himself having a baby, four days on and he still hadn't managed it.

He hadn't been able to wait for the pregnancy test, and it was really small, so he had ordered it via owl and had stayed in his bedroom the day it was due to arrive so no one would see the owl.

He had immediately ordered books and information, prenatal potions and anything else they recommended for male pregnancy from St Fiacre's, but insisted they post it via Muggle means and the very large package had arrived for him a few days later and had been brought to him by Steve, who was very curious about what he was ordering and how.

Harry had smiled and told him it was none of his business, to which the olden time, honourable man had blushed and immediately agreed that it was none of his business and wandered away, Harry would have felt bad if it wasn't so funny.

Harry tossed in bed again and thought back to the last week of his life, he hadn't done much except hide pregnancy books under novels he had already read and sit quietly in Tony's living room ignoring all of the others, though it was nice to be among people who liked reading in the quiet too, Steve would sit with a book and read or with his sketch pad drawing, Bruce would sometimes join them with science text or paperwork and it was peaceful and Harry enjoyed it, even if learning about everything he could expect during his pregnancy upset and distressed him.

Harry flumped onto his back and just decided to go and get something to drink, warm milk or something. He had never particularly liked milk, having never been allowed it in childhood, but the book said it was good for the baby so he was willing to force it down.

He padded softly down the hallway and pressed the call button for the lift, spending a moment before it arrived looking over his shoulder for anyone coming out of their rooms, he really didn't want to be escorted to the kitchen and watched obsessively before being escorted back to his room like a toddler.

He made it to the kitchen and poured a mug of milk, putting it in the microwave and heating it slightly. He didn't know Tony's rules on drinking in the bedrooms or taking cups from the kitchen, so he sat at the table to drink the mug of milk.

He got lost in thought and soon he just put his head on the table to think, his thoughts making him feel heavy and worn down, but he must have ended up falling asleep because the next thing he knew Steve was touching his shoulder gently and he jerked awake, scrubbing a hand over his face and blinking around him.

"Uh?" He groaned sleepily.

"It's half six in the morning Harry, are you alright?"

"Mmm. I must have fallen asleep." He said through a yawn.

"Do you want to go to bed and sleep for a little longer, or would you like breakfast?"

"Breakfast sounds nice." Harry said with a smile. "I don't mind making it; it's about time I helped chip in."

"It's alright, I've got it. It's my turn on the rota to cook breakfast."

"Sit down and let me do it." Harry glared at Steve, who swallowed, not in fear or anything stupid like that, but probably swallowing down a dozen reasons why Harry shouldn't be allowed to cook or go near sharp utensils or the oven.

Harry happily went and searched through the cupboards and fridge, happy in the knowledge that he knew what everyone liked by now and started making thin pancakes for crepes, he made sure the fillings were all fruit to stave off the worry or the lectures he was bound to get, plus Tony had a thing for blueberries, sometimes the only way to get the man to eat anything was to make it blueberry flavoured.

"These are really, really good." Steve told him as he served himself peach and apricot crepes from the plate and bowls Harry had put them on, each bowl had a different fruit filling, from diced strawberries, blueberries, diced peaches and apricots, kiwi and grapes and thin apple slices. There was a huge variety of fresh fruit available in the kitchen and Harry suspected it was Pepper's doing.

"I did say I was a good cook, I wasn't lying." Harry grinned ruefully as he took a thin pancake from the plate stacked high with them and filled it with blueberries, folded it up and ate it before Tony woke up and hived them all away.

"What's in the oven, it smells lovely."

"Muffins, blueberry ones, cherry ones and chocolate ones for Natasha and Pepper. Girls like chocolate."

"You do too I bet." Steve grinned and Harry smiled unrepentantly back as he stuffed a kiwi and grape crepe into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. It worked surprisingly well and he made and ate another one.

Natasha swayed into the room with Clint, the both of them dressed in gym clothes and covered in drying sweat.

Natasha immediately went for the diced strawberries, folding them into the pancake and eating it happily, Harry watched Clint subtly, wanting to know a bit more about his baby's father, wondering what filling he would choose. He was slightly surprised that Clint went for an unusual apple and kiwi filling.

Tony came out very soon after with Bruce in tow from down in the labs. They came over to the table to join them. Tony saw the bowl of blueberries and was pulling it towards himself before he had even sat down, he was still talking to Bruce about whatever they were doing, Harry smiled as he realised it was an almost unconscious thing for Tony to immediately go for the blueberries.

"These are really, really good, you've out done yourself Steve, I told you practice would make you better at cooking." Tony said as he took another huge bite out of his blueberry crepe.

"It wasn't me who made them." Steve said, nodding his head towards Harry, who was happily making his fruit filling of strawberries, blueberries and kiwi all artisan before folding it up and stuffing it into his mouth.

He noticed everyone watching him and he swallowed with a frown. "What?" He demanded.

"These are really good."

"I told you I was a good cook. I wasn't lying."

"These are better than good cook level. These are amazing!" Tony praised and Harry couldn't help but smile.

"It's fine, I've got to get more fruit into my diet anyway for the baby."

"There have to be more blueberries though." Tony frowned as his bowl was empty already.

Harry wondered if Tony even knew where the blueberries in his own kitchen were kept, but as he peered around looking for them, it seemed obvious he had no clue.

"You really don't know your way around your own kitchen?"

Tony shrugged. "I only put a kitchen in here because Pepper said I should, I'd order take out every day if it was up to me."

"Thank fuck it's not up to you." Harry said with an eye roll as he took the empty bowl from Tony, took two punnets of blueberries from the huge fridge, of which there at least eight punnets left, washed them, dried them, tipped them into the bowl and handed them back to Tony, who grinned so thankfully and happily at him that Harry had to grin back.

The oven beeped to let Harry know his muffins were done and he hurriedly stuffed another bite of his breakfast into his mouth, chewing as he pulled on oven gloves to pull them out.

"Did you make your own muffins? Seriously, you can make muffins?" Tony demanded. "Did you make blueberry ones?"

Harry held a blueberry muffin out to Tony who took it from him and bit into it, even though it was still hot.

He actually moaned around his mouthful and Harry plated up the three flavours of muffins and took two blueberry muffins before giving the entire plate to Tony when he wordlessly demanded it.

"These are better than those muffins at that coffee house I like!" Tony grinned. "I make Happy go out every morning to get me coffee and blueberry muffins from that coffee place."

Harry remembered the paper bag of blueberry muffins that Agent Coulson had given him the morning he had been taken and wondered if Tony was the friend Agent Coulson had been referring to, the man was the Avengers handler and was present on all their missions, so they could be classed as friends, but he didn't see Tony giving up anything blueberry flavoured willingly. He sighed if only he had stayed at work that day, perhaps things could have been very, very different, hindsight and all of the rest.

"I can make you more if you'd like. I enjoy baking."

Harry took one muffin of each flavour and peeled a mouthful off of each one, tasting them critically and smiling as they all met his expectations.

"If you ever feel like baking, feel free to feed me blueberry muffins." Tony told him, ruffling his hair.

Harry rolled his eyes and ate the rest of his muffins, drinking freshly made orange juice, before eating another crepe.

It was then that Thor made an appearance, wearing next to nothing and Harry couldn't help but stare appreciatively, partly wishing Thor had forgone the boxer shorts too.

"Thor, how many times, you need to get dressed before coming to the table!" Steve chastised. "There are women and an Omega present!"

Thor looked bashful, his cheeks and upper chest going pink and Harry grinned.

"Oh don't get dressed on my account." Harry grinned. "I'm rather enjoying the view. Sit and eat Thor, have a muffin before they go cold."

Thor did as was asked, sitting in the one of the only seats available, which were very luckily on either side of Harry, who was very happy at the seating arrangement.

Thor was distracted by the food and Harry was distracted by the mountain of muscle beside him.

"Harry, you need to eat." Clint told him, Harry didn't hear the hint of jealousy and anger, but everyone else did.

"I've eaten enough." Harry said distractedly, not taking his eyes from an oblivious Thor, who was happily complimenting the food as he ate what was left.

Tony chuckled behind him and shoved his shoulder, unfortunately, or rather fortunately, Harry wasn't expecting it and went into Thor, his hands sliding over bulging muscles and sliding down to Thor's huge thighs. Harry went pink, but he couldn't stop grinning.

Thor caught him and held his shoulders in huge hands and demanded to know if he was alright, putting his face close to Harry's and asking if Tony had hurt him.

"Oh no, I'm fine. How did you get such huge muscles?"

"I am a warrior of Asgard. I need to be in the best of strength I can be to protect those around me."

"I can feel that."

A chair scraped over the floor suddenly and Clint stood up and strode away quickly. Harry watched him go curiously, his mind analysing his gait, his body language, the stiffness of his back and shoulders and how he didn't look back not even once. It made Harry so very curious, if Clint's only concern was the baby, then why did he care what or who Harry did?

"What's his problem?" He huffed, even though he believed he already knew, but he happily turned back to Thor and fed him more food, his hand placed on one of those solid thighs. He refused to feel guilty; he had nothing to feel guilty for, but this did make him burn with curiosity to test this new development, no one but Malfoy had ever called him a Saint after all.

* * *

A/N: Busy, busy week last week, but I'm back now with chapter six, chapter seven will be up soon, I'm thinking Sunday or Monday and chapter eight will be up next week as well hopefully, fingers crossed for that one, so Damaged Bodies will be getting a chapter boost.

**Silvermane1**: No, I'm not doing the whole 'Lord' thing, he's just Harry Potter, who happens to have vaults from his parents and his Godfather, he's not a Lord in this story, though I may play around with it in other Avengers fics I'm writing.

**JulyAngel**: They're born Alphas, but they choose how they act, just like we do. Normal Alphas who don't care about social rank or aren't bothered by it come across as protective to Omegas and sometimes even Betas, because that's what society dictates they should feel, but the reality isn't as clear cut as that, you get the dicks who dislike all Omegas and are discriminate towards them, thinking they're just a distraction and shouldn't be allowed in the work place and will harass and tease them, calling them names etc and then there are others who are downright hateful of all Omegas, which is where you get Alpha parents disowning or abandoning their Omega child.

If you get to know someone and come to like or love them, then the protective feelings increase, Fury feels protective over Harry because he is one of his Agents, accepted into his Agency and he feels responsible for all of his Agents, so when Harry was found to be in danger through workplace negligence and was then kidnapped and subjected to torture, his protectiveness went into overdrive. Think of it as any other discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, homophobism, only instead of age, gender, race or sexual orientation, it's because you're born an Omega, the perceived weakest and most useless of the social ranks, good for nothing other than stress relief, fucking and making babies, in some Alpha and Beta eyes.

As for Harry leading the war, he was the prophesised child, the only one said to be able to defeat Voldemort, Omega or otherwise, they had to put their trust in him and his close friends and family knew how tough and determined he was, despite being an Omega, and of course once Dumbledore, the figurehead for the 'light' rallied behind Harry, the only hope for the wizarding world, the rest fell into line.

**Guest**: I'm sorry but I have no idea what you mean, I've never watched The Punisher and as I'm seriously not a fan of horror or thriller movies, it's unlikely I'll ever watch it I'm afraid.

**when spells go wrong**: Women can be Omegas too, yes, but they cannot be Alphas. Males can be Alpha, Beta or Omega, but women can only be Betas or Omegas because I don't women to be Alphas, the whole trying to come up with a plausible excuse for women to be able to impregnate men or other women without giving them penises, which frankly insults and frightens me, is impossible, it makes much more sense to just have men as Alphas.

**Guest:** Harry was not able to Apparate out of the factory where he was being held because he did not have his wand on him. It is implied in canon that a witch or wizard needs a wand to be able to Apparate and Harry's was locked in a safe at his home. Not to mention he was very sleep deprived and had been tortured, his mind was a mess so he would have very likely splinched himself very badly, which would not only have been disastrous and would have probably killed him, but would have broken the Statute of Secrecy too, so no, it was impossible even if he did have his wand on him, which he didn't.

**anon**: The Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics aren't canon, and yes they are a fandom all of their own, you can Goggle it if you'd like on a fandom site called Fanlore to get more basic information, though I have changed some things so it's not a solid guideline. There are loads of fandoms that have A/B/O dynamics though, not just Avengers, but Sherlock, Harry Potter, Teen Wolf and many more.

I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter! Until the next one lovelies,

StarLight Massacre. X


	7. Accusation and Interrogation

_Last Time_

_A chair scraped over the floor suddenly and Clint stood up and strode away quickly. Harry watched him go curiously, his mind analysing his gait, his body language, the stiffness of his back and shoulders and how he didn't look back not even once. It made Harry so very curious, if Clint's only concern was the baby, then why did he care what or who Harry did?_

"_What's his problem?" He huffed, even though he believed he already knew, but he happily turned back to Thor and fed him more food, his hand placed on one of those solid thighs. He refused to feel guilty; he had nothing to feel guilty for, but this did make him burn with curiosity to test this new development, no one but Malfoy had ever called him a Saint after all._

Chapter Seven – Accusation and Interrogation

"Where are you going though?" Steve asked him for the umpteenth time.

"Out!" Harry replied once again. "I'm going stir crazy in this house!"

"Let me go with you."

"No."

"Where are you going?"

"Out!" Harry yelled as he stepped out of the building and got into the taxi he had called, slamming the door on Steve and telling he driver to take him to a shopping centre.

"Alpha problems?" The man sighed, Harry was happy to scent that he was a Beta and a bonded one at that.

"A very over protective Alpha." Harry rolled his eyes.

"If he bothers you too much, call the enforcers, they'll sort him out."

"Oh it's not that bad, honestly, he's just worried. The enforcers don't need to be involved; they're only for emergencies and very bad Alphas, not ones who are just being overprotective." Harry hurriedly assured. The last thing he wanted was for Steve to be taken away and locked up by the enforcers, who were a branch off of the police force, only they dealt solely with Alphas and they were a lot less tolerant than most police officers.

Harry let the silence fill the taxi, not feeling the need to speak, he got out and paid for his ride and went into the shopping centre, intent on buying some things he needed.

Of course he would get distracted by the baby shops though, he couldn't help it. He had easily ignored the first four he had walked past, what with them being coloured in pink, yellow and beige, displaying cute little baby clothes and female maternity wear, but the fifth was aimed purely at pregnant male Omegas and he licked his lips debating with himself before slipping inside the soft blue and white shop and wondering if it would hurt to buy just a few baby things, even if he was only a month gone.

"Can I help you?" A happy man asked him, Harry relaxed as he sniffed the obvious Alpha to find his scent claimed him as bonded.

"I…I think I'm here a bit prematurely, I'm only a month pregnant, but I'm so unsure about everything, I just wanted to see the things I might need."

The man smiled indulgently at him and stepped around the counter. "I'm Killian; my Omega Paul is pregnant with our second child. He's in the back napping with our Benji, but he had a crazy idea when he was pregnant with him about setting up a baby shop aimed exclusively at male Omegas because he got so frustrated when he walked into a baby shop and had to pass through all the women's maternity wear and women's things to the back corner of the shop where there was a very small, limited selection for males, you'd think shops would have more of a selection, but no, apparently they don't think male Omegas care about what they're wearing when pregnant and it would be a waste of money, Paul and I thought differently, so he wanted to set up a purely all male shop. Of course I called him crazy and then bought this place for him to run and I have to say it's been a huge success, male Omegas care more than other pregnancy and maternity shops think."

Harry smiled as Killian threw a friendly arm around him and pulled him further into the shop.

"Whatever you need, we can get it for you, I swear it, we've been working very closely with maternity designers for a larger range of maternity wear for males, we've been working with real pregnant male Omegas to find out what they need and stocking it and we've even been speaking with paediatricians and nurses to help Paul write his own books to help other Omegas."

"I'm not sure what I need yet, I'm not even showing, but I'm not sure on anything I have to do or what I should be eating or anything."

Killian nodded. "Okay. Books and information first then, but as long as you're eating healthy, lots of fruit and vegetables, and eating unhealthy things in moderation then you're not doing anything wrong. Don't think just because you're pregnant you can't have your favourite meals or snacks, even if it is the occasional take out or chocolate cake because you can."

Harry was led to a bookcase filled with pregnancy and child care books and he happily realised he had none of them, so he picked up one of each.

"There's no need to go overboard." Killian told him with a laugh.

"You should see the amount of books I've already got; this isn't overboard, not yet. I just want to do everything right."

"As long as you use common sense, there's no wrong way." Killian told him with a laugh.

"I've been accused before of not having much common sense." Harry answered with a fond, yet painful reminder of Hermione, he was sure that was why he was reading so much now and turned to books for answers in her absence, because it would have been what Hermione would have done, it helped him feel better and closer to her, even though she was dead and gone.

"This is all going to be expensive. I wouldn't want to leave an unbonded Omega out of pocket." Killian said worriedly.

Harry sighed. "I'm not bonded no, but I'm…living with the baby's Father and I do have a job, a very high paying one too, I have a lot of money to waste without leaving myself out of pocket, I promise."

"The pregnancy would be much easier on you if you bonded to the baby's Father." Killian told him seriously.

"I'm not ready to be bonded." Harry confided softly.

"No one is ever ready to bond." Killian said. "I was absolutely terrified when Paul shyly asked me to bond to him. I refused the first time and Paul thought I didn't want him enough to bond myself to him for life, I almost lost him through my own fear, luckily I realised quite quickly what was going on and I begged him to forgive me and bond to me."

"Of course I said yes."

Harry turned to a doorway in the back where a rounded man stood proudly, he was tall, almost as tall as Killian who was over six feet, handsome and very obviously pregnant and happy to be, his loose shirt clearly showing off his bonding scar.

Killian went to embrace his Omega and kissed him lovingly and possessively, laying a heavy hand on the swell of Paul's belly.

"I was just telling this gentleman that everyone is terrified when they bond themselves to someone." Killian answered an unasked question.

"Oh, no Omega anywhere has ever gone into a bonding without being terrified, I'll challenge any Omega who says otherwise, Alphas are terrified of bonding as well mind, Killian was, it's a huge commitment for both parties involved, a lifelong thing, you have to put your whole trust in just one person and you have to trust them to care for you, to protect you and to love you and your children for the rest of your lives, it's a huge step, but it's one I have never regretted."

Harry grinned at the two loved up men and turned to look at the little baby onesies to give them a bit of privacy. He had to laugh when he found the Avengers clothes for babies; the Ironman bodysuit in particular caught his eye. Tony would get a huge kick out of it.

"I love those." Paul told him with a grin. "Benji was in all of them, the Captain America ones are the peoples favourite, but I think Ironman is just as good, he lives right here in this city you know, it's nice knowing there's someone around close by when the shit hits the fan. It's why I feel so safe living here, knowing the Avengers are here to protect us."

Harry smiled sadly, unfortunately he knew exactly what sort of pressure that comment and ones like it could cause, he had had the fate of the entire wizarding world and Muggle Britain, resting on his own shoulders and the weight had almost brought him to his knees, he had been too young, he hadn't been ready, no one had cared as they threw him out into a war to protect themselves just because a little glass ball had said he was the only one who could defeat Voldemort.

There had been times he had thought it was impossible, when the war had seemed endless and hopeless as every enemy he cut down was replaced by more, but he alone had survived out of everyone he had known. Only him and he had grieved and mourned as the media went ballistic around him, as photos and memories of survivors who only knew him by name offered up every tidbit they could remember about him in battle and all he wanted to do was shut himself up and mourn, but he wasn't allowed that luxury, he hadn't even been able to go to the graveyards where his friends and family had been buried without being hounded, the media had no shame when it came to him and he had had to leave, he had packed up everything of sentimental value, packed a few clothes and fled to the airport and he had gotten on the first flight to New York, where he had been able to mourn in peace, even though he couldn't visit the gravesites he hoped his friends and family understood and were there with him on the days or nights where he spoke to them and let out all of his thoughts and feelings on the war.

Harry took in a deep breath and picked up one of each bodysuit and rested them over his books, trying not to let his darkening mood show to the two happy, loving people behind him.

"Wait, are these the right size? I have no clue what size my baby will be."

"That's alright, these ones go right up to ten pounds, if a baby of yours comes out bigger than ten pounds, I'll give you a full refund or an exchange for a bigger size." Paul said with a smirk.

Harry grinned at him. "Thanks."

"What else do you need?"

"I'm not sure. I just had to get out of the house, so I decided to come shopping. I have no idea what I need though."

"You're not showing so you must be in the first trimester, under two months." Paul said sucking on his lip watched happily by his bonded mate Killian.

"I'm only a month pregnant, I found out four days ago."

"And since then you've gone ballistic?" Paul nodded understandingly.

"A bit. I've gotten so many books and I'm already on my prenatal stuff."

"That's good, prenatal nutrients are very important for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, but I think you have everything you need for now, but don't hesitate to come back if you need something else."

Harry nodded seriously as Killian rung up his purchases and Paul packed them into a bag for him. Harry paid happily and waved goodbye to the nice couple, making a mental note of the name of the shop and where it was located so he could come back.

He didn't stay out for much longer, he had only wanted to get out for a few hours, he had bought some things, gone to three book shops and by now he was sure he was being followed by someone; he touched his wand on his forearm and breathed out in relief.

He slipped around the corner of the shopping centre and stayed where he was, pretending to look in the window of the clothes shop.

He felt someone standing just on the other side of the pillar and he poked his head around it to see Natasha and he gave her a wry smile.

"Why are you hiding and following me?" He demanded.

"I'm making sure you aren't in any danger and I wasn't hiding, if I had not wanted you to see me, you wouldn't have seen me."

Harry sighed heavily. "I can't even go shopping without being followed."

"No, because we still haven't caught the people who were behind your kidnapping."

"I can protect myself!" Harry insisted, the mentally added 'now that I have my wand' was left unsaid.

"We just want to be sure."

Harry huffed. "Fine, I was about to head back home anyway, I'm done."

"What have you bought?"

"Don't you know?"

Natasha shook her head. "No, I didn't catch up to you until I found you in the book store; you had several bags by then."

"Just some baby things mostly, I want to know as much as I can."

"Want to grab an ice cream?" Natasha asked randomly and Harry was thrown off slightly and he thought about it.

"Alright."

"What's your favourite?"

"Chocolate, but I fancy plain vanilla at the moment."

Natasha nodded and they walked over to one of the food courts and Natasha ordered a strawberry and raspberry ripple double cone for herself and a double vanilla for Harry.

Harry thanked her and bit into his ice cream where anyone else would have licked at it, he didn't suffer any sensitivity in any of his teeth and he very rarely got brain freeze so he found it easy to bite ice cream.

Natasha directed him to a car and Harry slid in with her and his bags.

"This is Tony's favourite car and his personal driver Happy." Natasha told him.

"So no ice cream drips in the car?" Harry grinned as he clicked his seatbelt in one handed as the car pulled off.

"Not unless you want to volunteer to be Tony's personal human test subject."

Harry chuckled. "I think he'd like a human test subject if Pepper would let him get away with it."

"She never would."

Harry shook his head. "Thank fuck for Pepper."

"You know you hurt Clint the other morning."

Harry paused mid bite and stiffened right up, turning to glare at her through furious eyes.

"I hurt _him_?" Harry demanded. "I know you're close to him and one of his friends, but I don't think he has a right to be hurt!"

"I disagree."

"Disagree all you damn well want, I couldn't give a shit about him or what hurts him!"

"Did you have to be all over Thor, just to taunt him?"

"Contrary to what any of you might believe, I wasn't 'all over Thor' as you put it, because Clint was there. I did it because I was comfortable and having an Alpha flaunt himself in front of me was too good an opportunity to pass up, I was teasing Thor more than anyone else, do you think if I walked around in a pair of shorts that not a single one of those Alphas would make a comment?" Harry demanded.

"So you do what every Omega around the world accuses the Alphas of doing every day? Only it's fine for you to harass them but not the other way around."

"There is nothing wrong with light hearted teasing, but yes, when that goes from teasing to harassment then there's a problem, I know when enough is enough, most Alphas don't. If Thor had given a single indication of discomfort or told me to stop I would have, would an Alpha do the same?"

"It upset Clint." Natasha evaded.

"I don't give a stuff if he got upset, but if a gorgeous Alpha sits next to me near naked, then yes I'll tease him. Thor happens to be a very good looking, very muscled Alpha, he's very physically perfect and if he carries on coming down to breakfast in just his shorts, I'll continue to tease him until he tells me otherwise or I get bored."

"If Clint did the same?"

"I'd leave the room; I have no want to see him wearing anything less than a full outfit. Besides he's definitely no Thor and no Steve either. I'd bet Bruce and Tony were more muscular than him." Harry said spitefully, thoroughly upset by Natasha's inquest.

"So you're shallow? Just interested in the packaging?"

"No, but I would like an Alpha who could at least protect me and there's nothing wrong with being attracted to a nice body."

"Clint saved your life!"

"Yes he did, and he impregnated me without my consent or knowledge at the same time." Harry hissed back.

The car pulled to a stop and Harry forced himself out of the car before Happy could open the door, he threw his partially eaten ice cream away and stormed into the Tower with his shopping bags.

He slammed the buttons for the lift and growled as he went past the floor where his room was and right up to Tony's floor, he had a hunch that Tony and Jarvis were involved with overriding his destination.

"How was your day?" Tony asked happily, before his face went worried and analytical when he saw Harry was obviously angry and upset. "What happened?"

"Why are you people following me?!" Harry demanded.

"No one's followed you; we're all still here despite most of us wanting to run after you." Steve told him his face scrunching up in confusion.

Harry blinked, they all looked concerned and confused, even Clint.

"You didn't know?" Harry asked calming down.

"Know what?"

"That fucking evil bitch followed me!" Harry hissed pointing in the general direction of the lift.

"Pepper?" Tony questioned surprised.

"Pep…what, no! Natasha." Harry said. "You really didn't know?"

"She said she was going to the gym floor." Tony scowled. "Jarvis, did Natasha go to the gym floor?"

"No Sir, she left the building two hours ago and arrived back with Mas…with Harry four minutes ago."

"So she didn't tell you what she was going to say to me or why?"

"No, what did she say?" Steve asked.

"Nothing." Harry huffed, blowing out a breath, there was no need to get angry with them, despite the earlier trust issues, he could see that they were telling the truth this time at least.

"It obviously upset you." Bruce said concernedly.

"It's fine, she's entitled to her opinion of me, I wanted to know if any of you knew, but I can see that you didn't, so drop it please."

"What did you buy?" Tony asked a few moments later, offering a change of topic.

Harry grinned and dug in the baby bag to find the Ironman bodysuit. He put the bags down and held it up for Tony to see.

"What do you think?" He asked with a grin.

"I love it; I think it's the best thing a baby can wear." Tony grinned with a head nod.

"I saw it and thought it was cute, the salesman assured me it was a best seller." Harry chuckled as he let Tony inspect it. "Though this one was cute too."

Harry dug in the bag and dug out the Captain America bodysuit, showing it to the room.

"You had to go and ruin it." Tony pouted exaggeratedly.

Harry chuckled. "I like it, I also like that they're sort of unisex. Not that I think it matters too much. The Hulk onesies were sold out sorry Bruce, though I've reserved one to pick up when they get more stock it, it seems the Hulk is a very popular choice."

Bruce looked embarrassed and Harry grinned lopsidedly.

"Where are the infant garments dedicated to the mighty Thor?" Thor demanded.

"They were not unisex Thor, they are definitely for little boys, if I have a boy, I'll buy one, but if I have a little girl, I'm not putting her in a bodysuit that says 'I have a mighty hammer' across the front of it, actually, saying it out loud I don't think I'll put a son of mine in one either." Harry scowled as Tony burst out laughing. "I don't think they thought it out very well."

"No, I don't think so." Bruce smothered a laugh behind his hand. "How are you feeling Harry?"

"My leg aches, but not half as much as it has been, I think the muscles are getting stronger. Other than that and being interrogated and chewed out by a woman I don't know and don't particularly like, I'm fine."

"What did she say?" Clint asked, looking faintly pale. Harry happily ignored him and dug through his shopping bags. "It was about me then."

"Why else would a woman who has known me for all of five minutes corner me when I couldn't escape and accuse me of all sorts?" Harry bit back coldly.

"I didn't ask her to do anything, I swear." Clint told him insistently, looking imploringly at him.

"Then tell her to back the fuck off. I don't care if you think I'm shallow or vain or petulant or whatever, I don't care, you can all think what you like, but I don't want to hear it."

"I don't think any of those things." Clint said hurriedly.

"Well obviously your partner seems to think you believe differently, now I'm going to my room, today has worn me out."

"You haven't had dinner." Steve interrupted.

"I couldn't eat right now Steve, but thank you anyway." Harry answered as he packed up his stuff and headed for the lift, a hand rubbing his churning belly, perhaps the ice cream hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Harry made it to his room and kicked off his shoes, stripped off his shirt and fell onto his bed, sighing, leaving his bags on the floor. He crawled under his duvet to get warm, fully intending to get comfortable and read some more of the current pregnancy book he was reading before getting a quick shower and changing for bed, but he got too comfortable and he fell asleep easily without even getting out of his jeans.

* * *

Harry woke up suddenly and he didn't know why until his stomach lurched and he kicked his twisted duvet from his body and scrambled out of his room and into the bathroom, only just managing to shut the door and reach the toilet before throwing up noisily and messily.

His vomiting was so violent and sudden that he couldn't stop his eyes or his nose from running, his body shaking and leeching of all warmth.

"Sir are you well?" Jarvis asked him.

"Is anyone awake Jarvis?" Harry forced out miserably before he brought up more bile and his stomach clenched hard.

"Master Tony and Master Bruce are awake and in the lower lab, would you like for me to inform them of your condition?"

"N…no. I don't want to bother them if they're working."

Harry heaved and threw up again, his stomach and throat burning, the pain in his belly making him move one hand from the toilet seat to press against it hard even as he rested his head on his arm, resting across the toilet seat, getting in a few shallow breaths before he threw up once again, his eyes streaming and his stomach cramping.

"Master Steven is stirring if you would like me to inform him."

Harry shook his head as he was unable to reply through another round of vomiting. He didn't need to have said a thing though as it seemed Steve had woken up to use the toilet and found Harry regardless as he was halfway through an uncontrollable episode of repeated dry heaving that he couldn't break and couldn't stop.

"Harry? Jarvis get Bruce!" Steve ordered as he cradled Harry's freezing body in his arms, rubbing circles on his back to help sooth him.

"No…no need." Harry bit out, before he heaved again and a trickle of bile dribbled continuously from his throat, making it so he was unable to breathe, which caused him to panic and heave further, his body shivering uncontrollably, leaving him gasping for air.

Bruce and Tony both burst into the bathroom as Harry was panting heavily with Steve's help, getting only a few moment's reprieve before the vomiting started again, even as Harry sobbed and brought up nothing but bile and stomach acid.

"Morning sickness?" Bruce questioned as he placed a cool hand on Harry's already cold forehead. "He's in shock, probably from waking up suddenly and the force of the vomiting."

"What do we do?" Steve asked desperately.

"Wait for him to finish and then get him warm and replace the fluids he's lost. Water or actually a weak fruit squash might be best."

"I'll go get on that." Tony offered. "I'm not any good with people being sick and whatnot."

Tony made a hasty retreat and left Harry in the hands of Steve and Bruce, Harry wondered as his stomach tried to exit his body if he would have been better just staying on his own as the two flapped about him and didn't seem to have any clue what to actually do while he vomited.

An hour later Harry had been cleaned up, had washed his mouth out and was wrapped in a warm, woollen blanket on Tony's settee with a glass of lukewarm fruit squash shaking between his hands. He was taking small sips from it and nibbling on a few crackers Bruce had handed him. He felt better but completely drained and exhausted. If this is what morning sickness was, he had absolutely no idea what insanity possessed people to get pregnant for a second time.

Bruce came and sat by him, taking a hand gently and considering it between his own before two slender fingers pressed on his wrist, counting his pulse.

"You're getting better, you're warmer at least, but I would say you're still a bit shocky, try and drink a bit more, the sugar will help you feel better."

Harry did as he was told and took a few more shaky sips.

"Why would anyone put themselves through this?" Harry groaned miserably.

"Who knows." Tony replied. "I always thought breeders were insane anyway."

Harry managed a weak smile and allowed himself to rest his head on Bruce's shoulder. He didn't care that for the last few days he had been angry with the man, he had helped him when he had had no clue what to do, he had never been as violently sick as that and he was grateful for the help and now he just wanted to sleep.

"Get some more sleep Harry, we'll watch over you." Steve assured him.

"Get him a bucket, this carpet wasn't cheap."

"Have some consideration Tony!" Steve snapped, but Harry managed a small chuckle.

"I promise not to be sick on your carpet, just keep that woman away from me." Harry said as he was eased down onto a cushion and covered more firmly with the blanket, Bruce taking his glass of squash and putting it behind his head on the end table.

"Is he really asleep that quickly?" Tony asked a few minutes later as he checked his watch and checked Harry. "That was barely five minutes."

"His body is exhausted." Bruce said softly as he tucked a stray tuft of hair behind Harry's ear, only for it to pop right back out and to its original position. It made him chuckle. Even Harry's hair was stubborn and disobedient.

"He'll be okay though won't he? Was it something he ate?" Steve asked worriedly.

Bruce shook his head. "He'll be fine, but it's morning sickness Steve, not anything he ate. It's a common part of pregnancy."

"Will he be like this every morning?" Tony asked.

Bruce shrugged. "We'll have to wait and see. I'm not sure, but this bout was really violent and unexpected, hopefully now it'll calm down and won't be as violent, but we'll have to wait and see and try to find something that can settle his stomach so he can eat and sleep properly."

"It's a shame really." Tony said. "I was hoping he would make me more muffins for breakfast."

"Tony!" Steve chastised.

Bruce just shook his head and rubbed soothing circles on Harry's shoulder when the twenty year old shivered under the blanket.

"Jarvis, put the temperature of the house up please." Tony requested, his eyes not missing the shiver.

"Done Sir, the heating temperature has been put up to fifteen degrees."

"Do you think he got to sleep before he was sick? I couldn't help noticing he was still wearing his jeans." Steve said worriedly.

Bruce considered it but he shook his head. "I think he must have been so tired he fell asleep in his clothes, he must have kicked off his shoes, taken off his shirt to get changed, but never managed to fully change before falling asleep."

"Jarvis has Harry been sleeping properly?" Tony questioned concernedly.

"Harry has been plagued with nightmares since his arrival Sir, he wakes up often throughout the night and sometimes he stays awake reading until it is morning upon which he moves himself and his books to the communal living room and reads there. He has slept for a full eight hours only twice and he averages four hours a night."

Tony rubbed his eyes. "Should we get him on sleeping pills? Are there any sleeping pills safe for pregnant Omegas? Maybe I should make one."

"You're not using Harry and his baby as test subjects, he'll be fine." Bruce said sternly. "He needs to rest often, maybe take a couple of breaks in the afternoon, he needs to eat properly and he needs absolutely no stress."

"So in other words we keep Clint and Natasha away from him." Tony nodded.

"I have no idea what possessed her to follow Harry and interrogate him, but we had best be sure it doesn't happen again."

"It was obviously over Clint." Tony rolled his eyes. "What else would it have been? His muffin choices? His reading material? He hasn't done anything that warrants an interrogation if it wasn't to do with Clint."

"I think it might have been to do with Thor's appearance at breakfast and Clint storming off."

"That was hardly anything to ream out a pregnant Omega over, it was damned funny." Tony waved off.

"I don't think Clint saw the funny side." Bruce said wryly.

"That's his problem, I told him he needed to explain to Harry then back off and give him space and he hasn't done so, what's the point in giving him advice if he doesn't take it?"

"He's a very stubborn man unless the orders come from Coulson." Steve pointed out.

"Hmm…maybe I should get Agent to talk with him."

"What happened?" Clint asked panicked as he stepped off the lift and saw Harry sleeping on the settee with Bruce hovering over him.

"Morning sickness Clint, he's fine." Bruce assured.

"He doesn't look fine."

"He needs some rest and relaxation, Steve found him being violently sick two hours ago and he slipped into shock, but he'll be fine."

"The baby?"

"As right as rain."

"How can you be sure?"

"It was morning sickness Clint, nothing too serious, as long as he isn't as sick as he was this morning every single day; he'll be fine and can stay out of hospital."

"Yeah, he's hardly dying Cupid." Tony shrugged.

"Don't you have things to be doing in your workshop?" Clint demanded.

"I always have things to do in my workshop, fortunately though sick little Omegas come before that so I'm staying top side until Harry's better."

"I think starting breakfast will be a good idea, Clint it's your turn, don't make anything for Harry though, he won't be able to stomach it, porridge or dry toast would be better if he feels up to it later."

Clint nodded and unhappily moved to the kitchen with Steve following behind him and Bruce watched him go sadly. He hoped Harry would forgive him one day, even if he was never able to forget what he had done to him, he hated seeing people in pain and both Harry and Clint were hurting.

* * *

Harry was left alone to sleep for as long as he liked, even Steve not saying anything about the missed meals, especially not after Jarvis had informed them that Harry had not been sleeping properly.

Harry finally woke up sometime after two in the afternoon with a small whining noise in the back of his throat. His stomach heaved and Tony's eyes widened.

He picked Harry up as quickly and as carefully as he could and nearly ran to his private bathroom, which was even bigger than the communal bathroom a floor down, and placed Harry in front of the toilet, his heart beating as he felt out of place, he did what he had seen Steve and Bruce doing before he had run away and patted Harry's back awkwardly.

Harry heaved but nothing came up and he breathed rapidly and shallowly until his stomach was back under his control and his breathing was following.

"Are you alright?" Tony asked uncomfortably.

Harry hummed and pushed back from the toilet.

"No sick, are you sure?"

Harry cracked a smile and a small chuckle. "I think my stomach's completely empty, there's nothing left to come up after this morning."

"Thank fuck for that!" Tony sighed in relief as he helped Harry stand and let him wash his hands and face regardless.

"Thank you Tony."

"That's alright, I'd rather have my bathroom sterilised than my carpet ripped up and replaced."

Harry grinned and allowed the man to half carry him back out to the living room.

"Your bed is fucking massive, that's definitely orgy sized." Harry teased as they moved past it.

"Room for me and several very gorgeous women, sometimes men, very rarely men."

"You mean that many people want to be around you at the same time?" Harry teased.

"Of course, I'm Tony Stark."

"What do they think when they wake up to find the rest of the Avengers in your kitchen?"

"Some scream and throw fits; others try to fit themselves in to stay. I had one who tried hitting on Steve; apparently she wanted the whole Avengers team under her belt." Tony shrugged. "Either way Pepper deals with them, I'm usually down in my workshop when they crawl out of my bed."

"I'm sure one day you'll find the right person."

"I'm not looking too hard." Tony answered with a wink and Harry chuckled. "Now do you want to sleep some more or do you want to risk eating something with a bin shoved in your face?"

"I think some quiet time would be best, my stomach's still restless."

"I'll go and get you some of your books."

"I'm reading the one on the bedside table." Harry told him as Tony settled him down under the blanket.

It took Tony just a few minutes to retrieve the thick book and get back to the living room to hand it over to Harry.

"Thanks Tony, you can go do what you want to now, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? Your drink is by your side and Jarvis can call any of us at any time alright, I'll be down in my workshop."

"Okay, but I'm sure I'll be okay, I don't plan on going anywhere."

Tony nodded and tucked Harry's blanket over his bare shoulders, it was horrible to see the scars the little Omega had been left with, not that he cared, but he rather thought Harry might if he actually got around to realising he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Harry allowed him to tuck him up, holding the blanket in place with his chin as he opened his book to where he had left off and Tony happily slipped down to his workshop, informing Bruce of what had happened once he arrived.

Harry was happily engrossed in his book, taking a sip of the weak squash that was beside him now and then, trying to figure out what flavour it was supposed to be, he thought it might have been summer berries, but it was nearly impossible to tell with it being so diluted.

He was left alone, no one coming onto Tony's penthouse floor until Bruce wandered up at four, two or so hours after Tony had left.

"Hello Harry, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, I feel so much better."

"That's good, do you want to try eating something or do you want to leave it?"

Harry considered the question seriously. "I'm hungry and the squash hasn't done anything to my belly, so I think trying to eat something would be best. I can't go a whole day of only eating a few crackers."

Bruce nodded at his answer and headed into the kitchen to start dinner, smiling as Harry wandered over to the kitchen table, putting his book down before washing his hands and looking at him for instruction.

"You know I don't think making you work will help you feel better." He said wryly.

"I disagree. I want to help."

Bruce shook his head and started telling Harry what he wanted done, it took him less time than it usually did to make dinner with the competent helping hands, Harry really was good in the kitchen and when Bruce didn't need any more help he moved to a spare counter and said he was making dessert. Tony would be ecstatic.

Bruce got Jarvis to call everyone to dinner just as Harry was putting his dessert into the oven; he said it was a chocolate brownie pudding. All Bruce knew was that it looked gorgeous and smelt better.

Harry was happily eating tiny amounts of food from his fork when everyone arrived; thankfully Thor was dressed as was everyone else, even if Natasha and Clint were in shorts and tee shirts.

"I thought we'd have time to shower, you said half five." Clint said, still breathless from his sparring exercise.

"I had some expert help so I finished earlier than I expected." Bruce said with a smile at Harry, who grinned before taking another small forkful of food.

"You shouldn't be making him work, he's unwell." Steve hissed at Bruce.

"It's fine, I wanted to help, I'm feeling much better now."

"As long as you still feel better after you've eaten I have no problem." Tony saluted him and Harry rolled his eyes as he chewed.

Dinner was mostly quiet as Harry was once again sat next to Thor, because Harry had moved as soon as Natasha had tried to sit next to him. Harry would have taken anyone else, even Clint sitting next to him, but not her and the only other seats available were between Thor and Bruce or Thor and Steve. Harry had happily taken the seat between Thor and Bruce, the furthest from Natasha.

Harry finished last, even though he had started first and he put his plate in the sink ready for Natasha to clean, taking his pudding from the oven happily, which drew Tony's attention.

"Please tell me that's for everyone and not just you."

"I couldn't eat all of this in a week." Harry chuckled as he cut it into seven pieces and put them into dishes as Bruce took a pot of cream from the fridge.

"You're the best." Tony told him as he handed him his bowl and a spoon.

"You're just saying that because you want more muffins." Harry grinned.

"That is entirely true but I'll settle for not having you being all morning sick on my carpets."

"Morning sick." Harry snorted with a laugh. "I'll try, but I make no promises."

"That's fair enough I guess, maybe I should turf Pepper out of her room and swap you around so you're closer to the bathroom."

"Do that and I'm sure Pepper will get to you before I do, but in case she doesn't, I'll break both of your legs."

"I love how you're always threatening to break Alpha bones. It's all sexy and cute at the same time." Tony faux growled at him, bearing his teeth.

Harry burst out laughing and patted Tony's cheek. "Underestimate me all you want, but I'll still break your legs if you try to move Pepper from her room because I'm very sure she'll go right for your throat if you suggest it."

"Point taken." Tony answered. "I'll give you your own personal bucket instead."

"That would be lovely." Harry grinned, turning back to his pudding.

Natasha finished her pudding and then got started on washing the dishes, Clint moved to the settee and switched on the TV and Thor joined him. Bruce took Harry's empty bowl so he didn't have to go near Natasha and Harry surprised himself, but not as much as he surprised the others, by taking his book to sit next to Clint.

He sat curled away from him, his knees curled up, protecting his belly, but he still sat next to him and stayed there, breathing as evenly and gently as he could, testing himself more than anything. He could do this, he wasn't a fool or an irrational person, he could sit next to Clint easily, it's not like he truly remembered being mated, not really, he just knew that it had happened and he was now pregnant from it. He got a few flashbacks, a few memories of the event, but nothing in full, nothing that reminded him of pain or distrust.

Harry must have fallen asleep because the next he knew his back was cold and he arched to keep it from getting colder, reaching out with a groan to the warmth against his front, holding it tightly.

"Harry, you need to let go, you need to sleep."

Harry blinked his eyes open and blonde hair caught his eyes, he frowned immediately thinking of Steve, but the body under his hands was wrong.

His brain caught up and he saw Clint and recoiled from him. Clint moved away as if he was burnt.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked trying to be angry, but he was just too tired and groggy.

"You fell asleep upstairs; I thought you'd be more comfortable in bed, so I carried you here."

Harry calmed down and nodded. "Thank you Clint." He forced himself to say.

Clint nodded and edged backwards to the door. "Goodnight Harry."

Harry smiled and covered himself over.

"Don't forget to change into your pyjamas; it can't be comfortable sleeping in your jeans yet again." Clint told him.

"Thank you, goodnight Clint."

The door closed and Harry sighed in relief as he obsessively listened and heard footsteps down the hallway, he was being stupid, Clint hadn't meant to hurt him, it had been out of his control, he wasn't going to turn into a raving beast and mate him in a tower full of superheroes.

He slipped his jeans off and changed his boxer-briefs, pulling on sleeping shorts as well, before snuggling down in bed and falling off to sleep with difficulty, his mind playing over his evening with the Avengers and most particularly Clint, whom he had spent the evening sat beside and who had carried him easily to bed. It was too confusing and his emotions and thoughts were too confusing, he pushed them away and fell off to sleep, praying that the violent morning sickness did not come back the following morning, he had had enough of vomiting for the entire year.

* * *

A/N: Another one down, another one to come soon, Tuesday or Wednesday I'm thinking, but don't hold me strictly to that, anything can happen between now and then after all, but that's when I'm hoping to get it up and out.

Thank you to **BratPrincess-187** for being the **400****th**** reviewer**.

**Sakura Lisel**: Accidental magic is what magical children and adolescents have before they have a wand or not enough control over their magic and have nowhere to focus their magic from extreme emotional outbursts. Harry is no longer a child and he has ample control over his own magic from the war, thus accidental magic would not have occurred because Harry cannot perform wandless or wordless magic. He was trying his hardest to keep his emotions and breathing under his control, which would have also helped hinder any magical build-up's because there was no guarantee that he wouldn't scream something out that he didn't want his captors to hear if he lost control of himself. Also they were recording him and Harry knew they were recording him, having him perform magic, on camera where anyone, most particularly S.H.I.E.L.D, would have seen him doing so, would have been disastrous.

**fan of fanfiction1**: Nope, Harry is not a Lord of anything, he can't do wordless or wandless magic and he is not the Master of Death in this fic, which is sticking closer to canon on that front where Harry lost the Resurrection ring in the forest and never went to find it, left the Elder wand in Dumbledore's tomb and only kept the invisibility cloak.

Thank you to all of you who have read and reviewed, I welcome your questions, but please, do not tell me Harry is out of character because he is not a super powerful wizard who can perform the most impossible of spells with a flick of his wrist, because he can't, not in this fic and certainly not in canon, some of you need to go back and read the books again because you have obviously read too many stories and have forgotten what canon is and are confusing it with fanon.

StarLight Massacre. X


	8. Craving

A/N: For Tracey, who needs a lot of cheering up, I hope this helps you in whatever small way lovelie.

_Last Time_

_The door closed and Harry sighed in relief as he obsessively listened and heard footsteps down the hallway, he was being stupid, Clint hadn't meant to hurt him, it had been out of his control, he wasn't going to turn into a raving beast and mate him in a tower full of superheroes. _

_He slipped his jeans off and changed his boxer-briefs, pulling on sleeping shorts as well, before snuggling down in bed and falling off to sleep with difficulty, his mind playing over his evening with the Avengers and most particularly Clint, whom he had spent the evening sat beside and who had carried him easily to bed. It was too confusing and his emotions and thoughts were too confusing, he pushed them away and fell off to sleep, praying that the violent morning sickness did not come back the following morning, he had had enough of vomiting for the entire year._

Chapter Eight – Craving

Another week passed easily and Harry was booked in for his first scan of the baby today at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, he had been told sternly by Agent Coulson that he was not allowed to seek or receive any medical attention by anyone outside of S.H.I.E.L.D unless it was an emergency, so he had had to wait until S.H.I.E.L.D had a free slot to fit him in, it happened to be today.

Harry didn't mind going to S.H.I.E.L.D for medical reasons, he did not want anyone to find out that he was pregnant with the baby of an Avenger; it was far too dangerous, for him and the baby. He just didn't like that he had to go out today of all days, when his preheat was in full force.

He hadn't been sick again since that first time, but only two days later he had slipped onto a preheat. It had terrified him when he had seen Clint's eyes blow wide in lust, but the man had behaved amicably and closed his eyes to control himself, he had kept his distance as he escorted Harry to the kitchen, where Tony had dropped his toast and fled the kitchen as fast as he could. Harry tried not to let it hurt his feelings; he had been told numerous times that Tony had a 'fear' for lack of a better word, of anything Omega.

Watching the eyes of all of the people he had come to know over the last two weeks blow wide with lust made Harry so uncomfortable and shy, he just wanted to curl up in a hole until his preheat ended. He was almost thankful that he was pregnant and wouldn't slip onto a full heat period, but if he wasn't pregnant he'd be on his suppressants, which meant nearly the same, he'd have a preheat and no actual heat, but he wouldn't have a baby either.

Steve bless him tried his best to ignore the situation, including him in a very strained conversation that took more will power and stubbornness than anything to keep going, but Harry ate his breakfast and then holed himself back up in his bedroom, adamant that he wouldn't be coming back out again until his preheat ended, unfortunately Agent Coulson arrived two days later to drag him to S.H.I.E.L.D to get a scan of the baby to make sure everything was going fine and wouldn't let him back out of the appointment due to pheromone issues.

The man hid his emotions and thoughts very well, it helped that his eyes were hidden behind mirrored sunglasses and his body showed no tension or strain, Harry could almost believe he was walking with another Omega, and that helped relax him immensely.

Of course he was heckled by young Alphas at S.H.I.E.L.D but a quick baring of teeth and a small growl from Coulson had them all ducking away and going back to their business, though Coulson wrapped an arm around his waist, hand over his flat belly to protect the baby, keeping Harry tucked into his side to protect him and Harry could almost believe he was bonded to Agent Coulson.

They made it happily to the infirmary and Agent Coulson helped him onto the high bed and stood beside him on guard to wait for the doctor.

"Are you staying here because the doctor is an Alpha?" Harry asked perceptively.

Agent Coulson nodded. "Yes, Doctor Bennet is a very professional man, but he is an Alpha and a happily unbonded one. I don't want any trouble arising because he believes it to be a good idea to harass an Omega on a preheat in his care."

Harry nodded and felt better that Agent Coulson was staying with him when the Doctor came in and struggled to hold his professionalism together.

He was an older gentleman with greyish, white hair, he was sure the term 'silver fox' would be thrown around by the overworked nurses, but Harry didn't care as the man's brown eyes were almost lost to his pupil.

"Agent Coulson, will you be staying?" The Doctor asked and there was a hint of something in his voice that made Harry reach out for Agent Coulson's hand.

"I will, I'm sure you understand that Director Fury wishes for the very best care and security for Harry." Phil said as he gripped Harry's hand tightly. He couldn't help but notice that Harry caressed something at his hip and wondered if he had brought his gun with him. He couldn't blame the young man after what had happened, but he did wonder why the metal detectors hadn't gone off when Harry had walked through them as he entered the building.

Only ten minutes in and Harry wanted the examination to be over as the doctor tried twice to go lower than was needed, each time stopped by a sharp word from Agent Coulson.

Harry stayed only long enough to confirm the baby was alright and developing normally, before he was off the bed and pulling his shirt back on, clear gel be damned. He'd shower later.

"Don't you want pictures?" The doctor asked surprised.

"No. I want to leave now."

Coulson was there then, leading him out with a calming hand, thanking the doctor, but making a veiled threat about coming back to talk to him later.

Harry was led through the building and back through the metal detectors, thankful he hadn't been asked for an on the spot search because he had his wand in his hip holster, as he waited on the other side for Coulson to take off his gun and step through, before reclaiming it on the other side.

"Are you hungry? We could go and get you something to eat outside of the tower to make you feel more comfortable."

Harry nodded and allowed Coulson to take him to a small restaurant; Harry tried to ignore the turning heads, the cat calls and wolf whistles, the propositions and the downright lewd proclamations, but it was difficult and only years of being treated the same allowed him to walk normally, his back ramrod straight, defiance in every line of his pinched face as he sat down with a thunk and took in a deep breath, ignoring all the Alpha smells that rushed into his senses.

He couldn't ignore the man that squeezed himself next to him though as he sniffed at his hair and Harry flinched away and glared at the Alpha.

"Can I help you with something?" He demanded sharply with a sneer.

"He's too old for you baby, you need someone who can keep up with you, what do you say we leave him here and you come back to my place?"

Harry didn't have time to get in a word as the Alpha was gone from his side and Coulson was just stood there, his face blank, his mirrored sunglasses still on his face.

"I suggest you leave him alone."

"Why? What you gonna do old man?"

"Take this outside gentlemen!" The waitress told them sternly. "This is a family restaurant. There are Pregnant Omegas and children here today!"

"Just leave it Phil." Harry said softly. "I'm used to Alpha dicks acting like this all the time."

Phil didn't move his face from the taller, thicker Alpha tensed in front of him.

"I will tase you if I have to." Coulson threatened. "I will watch you dance uncontrollably on the floor for entertainment as Harry and I have a meal together and on the way out, I'll call the Enforcers and see who they think is in the wrong."

"You shouldn't bring you're little girlfriend out if he's leaking pheromones all over the place, you should lock him up!"

Harry refused to react, he locked all of his joints so he wouldn't just sink into the booth he was sat in so all the eyes he could feel looking at him would go away. He glared harder.

"There are no laws, official or otherwise that states an Omega in preheat cannot go outside and do everything they would have normally. If you are not disciplined enough to control yourself around mere preheat pheromones, that is not the Omegas fault; it's yours, now I suggest you kindly leave."

The bigger Alpha went red at that as some people chuckled and tittered at the insinuation that he was a weak Alpha. He looked around in surprise as he realised he was losing the crowd that had been behind him to begin with.

"I want you out of my restaurant!" The waitress demanded.

Harry glanced a peek at her to see her looking at the troublesome Alpha and not at him and Phil and he smiled.

Coulson didn't move, he didn't even smile, smirk or frown, his face was still pleasantly blank and Harry gained a new found respect for the man and understood exactly why he was Fury's closest, most senior Agent.

Phil moved for the first time and it was to take his mobile phone from his jacket pocket.

"I will call the Enforcers; I believe it's a twenty-four hour stint with them for harassing an Omega in public and they won't go easy on you."

"He's unbonded!" The Alpha tried.

"Most Omegas these days are. It doesn't mean they are free for you to heckle them. Now leave or I will make good on my promise to Taser you and call the Enforcers as we leave."

The man wisely left and Harry smiled as the conversation burst around them excitedly as Phil sat back down and smiled for the first time since standing up.

"You're a real badass you know." Harry chuckled.

"So I've been told. Now, what would you like to eat?"

Harry enjoyed his time with Agent Coulson immensely and was in a much better mood when they got back to the tower. Harry was laughing hysterically and Phil was supporting him from the lift and into the living room.

"Is he okay?" Steve asked.

"He's perfectly fine." Coulson replied with a smile as he sat Harry next to the Captain. "He has really enjoyed the story I told him about when Stark and I first met."

"Super…supernanny!" Harry giggled breathlessly.

"It's a good programme to watch when you're the babysitter of several disobedient Agents, isn't that right Agent Barton?"

"Yes Sir." Clint replied with a grin and Harry started laughing again.

"I'm the handler for the Avengers now and between Barton and Stark, I need all the help I can get."

Harry's laughing trailed off and he rolled over to Steve's warmth and snuggled into his side with a smile.

"Did you get any of those grainy ultrasound photos?" Tony asked, looking like he was trying very hard to stay put, his hands gripping the arm of the settee he was squashed against. Steve must have said something to him.

"No. I wanted to leave that disgusting, touchy-feely doctor as soon as possible, how dare he try and cop a feel of me!"

"I'll sort it out for you Harry and I'll find a well-trained, professional Beta doctor for your next appointment."

"I hate Alpha dicks." Harry bit out furiously, sitting upright and away from Steve, even though he let that muscled arm remain around his back. "The doctor, that guy in the restaurant, the guy on the walk home, why can't they all find some brain cells and realise they're never going to find a bond mate when they act like that? That Omegas are all just a piece of ass for them to cop a feel off before swanning off to the next trampled Omega who'll have them!"

Harry huffed bad temperedly and threw himself back against the settee, and Steve's arm, and tried to relax, one hand moving to trace light patterns on his stomach.

"You're not feeling sick again are you?" Bruce asked kindly, watching his finger trace absently.

Harry shook his head. "No. I feel fine and I've eaten already, so I think I'm going to shower or something and read more of that book on caesareans."

"Take a bath; it'll help you relax more." Steve suggested.

"Thanks Steve!" Harry said as he gave him a hug and stood up. He hugged Coulson happily. "Thank you for taking me to my appointment and for sticking up for me and for taking me to dinner, I had a great time."

"It was my pleasure Harry."

Harry ignored the look on Clint's face, that betrayed, saddened look. He had no right to look like that, but maybe it was because Coulson was his Handler, both before the Avengers and after, but still, he didn't want Clint looking hurt, it made him feel unduly guilty, it had only been dinner and not even a date dinner, but more of a 'I'm hungry, let's eat' dinner.

He locked the bathroom door after collecting his pyjamas and started running the bath, he hoped the rest of his preheat week passed quickly and without issue. He couldn't put up with these Alphas anymore and he wanted normal Tony back, not Tony who leapt for the nearest exit every time he walked into a room. He missed his talks with Tony.

* * *

The next week Harry was feeling better, his preheat had ended and everything was near enough back to normal. It was currently half five in the morning, breakfast time in Harry's mind, and he was searching the kitchen for something he knew he wanted, but wasn't sure what it was exactly that he wanted. He was going through every cupboard and draw to find the something he wanted.

He could feel someone behind him and jerked a look over his shoulder to look at Steve, who woke up at the same time every single day, his inner body clock telling him it was time to wake up.

"Morning Steve!" Harry called out to him before diving back into a cupboard.

"Good morning Harry, what are you doing?"

"Looking for something." Harry replied easily.

"Oh, well what are you looking for, maybe I can help."

"I don't know what it is."

Steve blinked in surprise before starting making breakfast for the team, who would be awake soon. He made sure to watch where Harry was so he didn't step on him or kick him as he scooted around the lower cupboards for the thing he was looking for, but didn't know what it was. Maybe he should call Bruce.

"What are you doing Harry?"

Steve sighed in relief as he heard Bruce's voice and turned to see him and Tony looking at the young man digging in the cupboard.

"He's looking for something." Steve informed them.

"Just ask Jarvis, he'll tell you where it is." Tony chuckled.

"I don't think he could."

"Why not? Jarvis knows everything." Tony defended hotly.

"Harry doesn't know what he's looking for; can Jarvis help Harry find something when he doesn't know what it is he wants?" Steve asked.

"Ah, no." Tony frowned. "Is it a food item?"

"Yes!" Harry called from the cupboard he was searching.

"I think he's having his first food craving, his body must be deficient in something." Bruce informed them.

"So this is normal for pregnancies?" Steve asked with a bit of relief as he pointed to Harry.

Bruce nodded before going to help Harry.

"What are they doing?" Natasha asked as she and Clint came up to the kitchen, looking as Bruce and Harry methodically went through every cupboard and draw.

"Searching for Harry's deficiency." Tony told them as he made himself a coffee.

"Harry has a deficiency?" Clint asked.

"Yes, only he doesn't know what it is, so he's searching for it."

"What if you don't have it here?"

"Please, between Pepper and Jarvis this house has something of everything."

"Ah!" Harry exclaimed and drew everyone's attention.

Bruce had pulled out a plate of small watermelon wedges covered in Clingfilm from the back of the fridge and Harry had almost snatched them happily from him.

"How can you be deficient in watermelon?" Clint asked.

"Don't be stupid." Tony told him. "He's either deficient in vitamin A, vitamin C or potassium if he wants watermelon."

"Could be B six." Bruce added.

"There's not a lot of B six in watermelon though, he could easily get more from eating a bowl of bran flakes."

"Is it dangerous to him or the baby to be deficient in something?" Clint asked.

"It could be, but as Harry's body seems to be able to identify what he's deficient in and sets off cravings, they should both be fine." Bruce answered.

As they waited for Steve to finish breakfast, they had nothing else to do but watch as Harry ate his watermelon, which should really be filmed and posted on a porn website as he near enough molested it with his mouth.

Steve had watched for two minutes before turning back to the oven with a flushed face as Harry nibbled, licked and sucked on the small wedges of watermelon, ignoring all of them, using the tip of his tongue to catch the trails of juice over his hands and fingers.

"This feels wrong and uncomfortable and I still can't look away." Tony said entranced.

Harry picked up another wedge of watermelon and started nibbling on it, but the trance ended when Thor joined them, being his usual loud and boisterous self as he clapped Harry so hard on the back he almost choked.

"Thor, be careful!" Steve chastised as he flapped around Harry.

"I'm fine." Harry insisted as he patted Thor to ease the man, god, down from looking like a kicked puppy, going back to his watermelon with a bit more vigour than molestation so it didn't look as sexual and more like normal eating.

"Do you want any Harry?" Steve asked as he plated up breakfast for the team.

Harry shook his head. "I'm fine thank you Steve."

"What's on the agenda today?" Bruce asked as he started eating.

"We have a team building exercise this afternoon." Steve told them.

"Why do we need to do team building exercises?" Tony snorted. "We work fine together, as we've proven numerous times and yeah, sometimes one of us can be a complete asshole and get all moody or whatever, but we get over that. These exercises are a waste of time."

"They're not a waste of time, they're mandatory." Steve argued.

"Well I don't like them and I don't think we need them!" Tony argued back.

"We're still going whether you like it or not." Steve said firmly, ending the discussion and leaving Tony to silently fume.

"Will you be alright on your own for a few hours Harry?" Bruce asked.

Harry bobbed his head. "Perfectly fine. I'll enjoy the rare and limited peace for as long as I have it. Besides, isn't Pepper and Happy here?"

"Pepper will be off to work soon, Happy will drive her, but Jarvis is still here." Tony told him.

"Complete and utter peace then." Harry grinned.

"You'll miss us soon enough." Tony teased.

"I'm sure I can manage a few hours without missing you."

"Sure sure, you know all the numbers for the emergency services yes? It's nine-one-one in this country."

"I've lived here for two years Tony; I think I have the emergency services number down." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Just in case I'll write it down and pin it to the fridge, you'll be guaranteed to see it then."

Harry had the almost uncontrollable urge to throw something at Tony, but he didn't have anything to throw, so he settled on glaring at him poisonously.

"Lay off him Tony." Steve cut in, laying a soft hand on Harry's arm.

"It's all in good fun Cap. Harry's a good sport, he knows I'm just kidding, right Harry?"

"I will kill you while you sleep and stuff your mangled, mutilated body into a sewage pipe." Harry hissed.

"On that note, I'll just go and upgrade the security for my bedroom and then we can go to this team building thing."

Harry smiled as Tony left the room and he went back to eating, the red rage fading as Tony left.

"Was that your first mood swing?"

Harry looked at Natasha through considering eyes. He still hadn't forgiven her from the ambush at the shopping centre, but the anger he held was at the point where it took too much energy to maintain and he wasn't bothered enough to carry on feeling that anger, he had more pressing things to worry about.

"I think so; the urge to kill him is gone at least."

"Please say this isn't going to be an everyday thing."

Harry shrugged. "How the hell would I know? This is the first time I've been pregnant and my first baby. I'm not an expert, I don't know what's going to happen from here on in, all I know is from what I've read in books and I've never had much interaction with other Omegas, and next to no interaction with pregnant Omegas. I don't know what to do or what to expect, so you lot are along for the ride too."

"That's alright Harry, I'm sure we can all manage together." Steve soothed. "I've never been around pregnant Omegas or even Betas and the only babies I've held are the ones that were shoved at me during Captain America's publicity shots."

"That must have been annoying."

"It was more frustrating than annoying, I didn't mind, but having a baby near enough thrown at you means a lot of frantic scrabbling to stop the baby from falling."

Harry shook his head. "I promise I'll never throw my baby at you or Captain America. Some people can be so irresponsible."

"I think it was excitement more than anything, every housewife in America loved Captain America."

"It's the biceps and six pack." Harry nodded seriously.

Bruce chuckled while Steve went red.

"It's a well-known fact that there are four things an Omega looks for in a bond mate."

"Oh and what are those?" Clint asked, he almost managed to pull off casual, but Harry was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent too.

"A solid six pack, big biceps, big thighs and a big something else." Harry laughed.

"A big what something else?" Thor asked him, a frown between his eyes.

Harry grinned. "A big hammer, Thor."

Thor's face cleared and he nodded as if everything made sense to him. "I have all of those things you seek, though I left Mjolnir in my bed chambers."

Harry blinked and then he started laughing and he couldn't stop. He laughed so hard that he could feel tears falling down his chest and every gasped intake of breath hurt.

"You're brilliant Thor, please, never change."

"But these garments will be soiled by the end of the day." Thor argued and Harry chuckled, his middle hurting too much to laugh again at the moment.

"I don't think that's what he meant Thor." Steve explained as the god looked at a chuckling Harry with a confused frown.

"Then what did he mean?"

"You can change your clothes, but don't change who you are."

"I have been Thor for over two thousand years, why would I change now?"

"Again not really what he meant, but close enough." Steve relented.

Harry shook his head and patted Thor's shoulder, patting Steve's as he went past to put his watermelon rinds in the food recycling and his plate in the sink.

"I'm going to go and pretend to watch TV while really thinking up ways to get past Tony's new security." He told the table as he carefully went down the three steps from the kitchen to the living area and sunk onto Tony's plush settee. He didn't actually do either as he spied his pregnancy book on the table and picked it up.

He said goodbye to the Avengers as they went off to do their team building course and he was left alone in a huge Tower that had more floors than anyone knew what to do with, though Tony was making noises about each Avenger having their own floor instead of all having bedrooms on the same floor. It was going to cost a lot to make every floor into a flat for each person. Tony had more money than sense in Harry's opinion.

"Jarvis, am I allowed to leave or am I on lockdown?"

"I have not been instructed to lock you in the tower, but I must advise you against leaving Master Harry."

"No Master, Jarvis." Harry reminded the A.I. who he was sure was very uncomfortable not calling him Master, but Harry hated it. "I'll be back before the Avengers know I'm even gone."

"If Master Tony asks, I will have to answer him."

Harry smiled. "I know Jarvis, but being in this Tower all day every day is not only boring, but I…I miss home. I miss my house, with my things, my space. I'm not sure if you understand, but I just want to go home for an hour or so."

"You are suffering from homesickness." Jarvis informed.

Harry nodded. "I guess I am. Before all this, I was very independent, I'm not used to having people help me or always being there to support me and it's getting overwhelming lately. I know they're worried and whatnot and sometimes I do like the attention and the support, which is strange as I used to hate it when I was younger, but it's all getting too much. It must be because of the kidnapping and what happened afterwards, but I've been feeling clingy lately, not much like myself, I'm hoping that going home for a bit will ground me and make me, me again. Though it's probably futile because the pregnancy and the hormones won't help my independence much either, but I need to try, I don't want to be seen as just another run of the mill pregnant Omega. I'm not like them; I've never been like them."

Everything was silent as Harry breathed in deeply and slowly to calm himself after his little rant.

"You must do what you feel you must." Jarvis told him and Harry smiled.

"Thank you Jarvis, I shouldn't be too long, I don't want to worry any of them after all. I'll see you in a little while."

Harry patted his thigh to make sure he still had his wand on him, though he already knew he had, and he rode the lift down to the ground floor, he was going to be extra aware of himself this time as he walked home and he wasn't going to stay longer than an hour or two, but he just needed to ground himself, he was sure he would feel better afterwards and he would stop with the emotional hills, outbursts and mood swings. He was just glad he hadn't burst into irrational tears yet; he didn't think he'd live through the humiliation and the teasing that would then ensue after such an episode.

* * *

A/N: I can't remember how long it's been since I updated, which probably means it's either been too long or I have memory problems, but I've been swamped lately with real life, personal business and an overhaul of plots that have left me drowning in word documents.

Bruce/Harry is up next and it'll be another ficlet like this one, which hopefully equates to it being under twenty chapters, but with how strong it's going, it's anyone's guess.

The second chapter to the Nick Fury/Harry fic will be up shortly too, I can't believe I forgot about it, but there you go, all in a day's suffering of being an author with a very busy real life.

Thanks to **Flamegirl22** for being the **500****th**** reviewer**.

As to the squash issue from the previous chapter, I had no idea it wasn't a regular drink in America and that it wasn't widely available like it is here, but I've been told that it is available, it's just very expensive, but as he's Tony Stark and has money to burn, we'll just say he likes the extravagance of it to go with his alcohol collection, because some squashes are mixed with alcohol just like coke or lemonade is.

**noirekitsune**: Harry has much more control now than when he was a teenager, so accidental magic is out of the window. He didn't become a S.H.I.E.L.D agent through emotional outbursts or tantrums, the war stripped him bare and losing everyone he loved harrowed him. He has triggers, like most people do, his Mum is an obvious sore spot for him, but he's much calmer and more collected as an adult, which means he can control his emotions now, even under torture and extreme pressure, so it'll take a bit more than some teasing or pregnancy hormones to make him lose control of his magic. Does that make more sense?

**SecretsOfaFanGirl**: In the original Marvel comics Pepper married Happy, Tony's driver, and they left Stark Industries and moved away to adopt several children. Pepper only had a brief fling with Tony during a rocky patch in her relationship, but the films seized it and put Pepper with Tony, which I don't like, so I'm following the comics on that one and having Pepper with Happy, but they're not together yet, though they will be over the course of the fic.

StarLight Massacre. X


	9. Recalibration and Round Two

_Last Time_

_Harry patted his thigh to make sure he still had his wand on him, though he already knew he had, and he rode the lift down to the ground floor, he was going to be extra aware of himself this time as he walked home and he wasn't going to stay longer than an hour or two, but he just needed to ground himself, he was sure he would feel better afterwards and he would stop with the emotional hills, outbursts and mood swings. He was just glad he hadn't burst into irrational tears yet; he didn't think he'd live through the humiliation and the teasing that would then ensue after such an episode._

Chapter Nine – Recalibration and Round Two

Harry made it home with absolutely no problems and he let himself in and inhaled the scent that he associated with his house. He didn't spend endless amounts of time here, not between working so late and staying over at his office, but he knew enough to see this place as his.

He walked around and checked on everything and he immediately felt at ease. This place had been a safe haven away from everything, the troubles at work, Alpha dicks, whenever he felt lonely all he had to do was look around him and the pictures of his loved ones, spaced all throughout the house, were there to greet him.

He felt calmer as he walked through his house, boiling the kettle to make a hot chocolate, putting his favoured cocoa powder into his favourite mug. It all centred him and he just felt so much better about everything as he took his hot chocolate to his living room and sat on his favourite rug which was so thick it cushioned him.

He folded his legs together and breathed in the scent of his house and his hot chocolate and slipped his wand from its holster, he had been so careful at Tony's tower, which was so full of technology Harry thought that his very presence would blow up the entire structure. Jarvis was wired into every inch of the Tower, everything was automatic and filled with technology, he couldn't use magic in a single room of Tony's Tower without fear of frying the circuit board of something and it was too risky to try it, if they found out he was magical…he didn't want to think on what it would do to the Statute of Secrecy or his relationship with the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D if he did.

He only did simple spells, summoning some biscuits he knew he had, summoning a book from his bookshelf and performing a strong cleaning spell to get rid of the accumulated dust and slightly off, stale smell, more for something to do than for any fear of inhaling any of the stale air or dust.

He felt better, more him as he did and less like a pregnancy sideshow for people to watch. He liked the Avengers, but being constantly watched grated on his frayed nerves, it reminded him of being recorded and watched as he was strung up, naked and in agony by enemies.

He breathed in deeply again and settled himself. It was over, just like the war was over. There was nothing he could do, nothing that could change it now, so he had to learn from it and move on, or he was never going to be able to live a normal life. Or as normal as he ever got at any rate.

The truth of the matter was he just didn't know what to do. It had been sudden, he had been almost at the bottom of the S.H.I.E.L.D hierarchy, doing paperwork and reports, though he knew he wasn't supposed to be doing those, especially not the ones he had been given at any rate, but then he had been kidnapped out of the blue and tortured for information he wasn't supposed to have. He knew that was still being investigated, but it wasn't moving quickly enough and they couldn't find who was behind it or who had told whoever had kidnapped him that he had had the information in the first place. The trail was going cold.

Then he had been rescued by the world renowned Avengers team and they were all suddenly in his face and in his life, he had woken up and they were just there and they weren't leaving. He didn't know what to think about that particular mess.

It was getting easier to be around Clint, he was slowly realising that there had been no way to escape what had happened and it had been Harry's choice to keep the baby, not Clint's, but Natasha's attitude towards him was clouding his judgement. Clint had had nothing to do with her ambush on him, he hadn't known she had left the Tower and yes, he understood that she was Clint's best friend, if she even believed in friends, and they had been through a lot together and that she wanted to protect him, but reaming him out like she had, cornering him when he couldn't get away, he had lashed out and at the wrong person.

Harry sighed and sipped his hot chocolate, putting the book he hadn't yet opened on the rug. He wanted someone to tell him what to do in regards to Clint, but he knew, as an adult he had to make that call himself, that's what it meant to be an adult, you had to make all of the hard decisions yourself. Did he forgive the man who had sex with him without his consent, while he was strung up and unable to move or did he forgive the man who saved him, the man who was the Father of his baby whether he liked it or not. It was all so confusing and messed up and it gave him a huge headache. He took another sip of hot chocolate.

He pressed his hand to his belly and considered it, it seemed firmer than usual, bigger, but he didn't know if that was the food and multi-vitamins he was taking to combat the starvation or if it was the baby. His pregnancy was progressing normally, so it could have been the baby, but he had been eating a lot lately, which is why Tony's comment about pinning the emergency number to the fridge had hit his pride. He couldn't help that he was getting hungry every few hours and now he was craving food, it was likely to only get worse from here on in.

Harry groaned and rubbed his face. His body had changed dramatically due to the torture, he had a multitude of scars, which were thankfully fading with the weakened salve he had from St Fiacre's, he could count his ribs and feel his spine, his muscle had melted away to feed his starved body energy to keep him alive and he knew he looked bad, but he was getting better, he had more weight to him now, he looked healthier than he had before he was kidnapped, which could only be a good thing, but now his body was going to change dramatically again, this baby was going to grow, was going to balloon him outwards and if it was too fast for his recovering body to keep up, he was going to end up looking ridiculous with his skinny, underfed body and giant belly.

Taking several gulps of his cooling chocolate, Harry wondered again on what the best course of action was to do. Perhaps if he talked to Clint alone he would feel better, or would know better what he wanted to do. Their last private chat had reassured him a bit as to Clint's reasoning, even if he hadn't liked it, he understood. So perhaps another talk was on the cards.

He had no idea what to do about Natasha. Maybe if he sicced Pepper on her she'd back off and leave him alone. Even if he wouldn't do it, the thought made him smile as he imagined Pepper beating the shit out of Natasha with a thick portfolio. But then he wondered if talking to Clint about it would be better, he was her best friend after all, maybe he could talk some sense into her or at the very least find out why she thought it was a good idea to corner him, trap him after his ordeal and ream him out like she had.

The others he had no problem with, though Steve could be overbearing at times, like a worried, overprotective mother hen, but as he did it to everyone, Harry tried not to fault him for it. He had had a team thrust on him in a time of crisis and he had dealt as best as he could, but active missions meant danger and injury and it was just the man he was that he didn't want to see any of his 'men' hurt, so when one of them was hurt, he flew overboard, which wasn't always a bad thing, unless you were the one that was hurt, then it was a very bad thing.

Harry smiled. There wasn't a bad bone in Steve's body, even though he could be as badass as the rest of them when he felt his friends, loved ones or country were threatened, which made him the perfect Captain.

Tony cared in his own way, though his way of taking care of everything wasn't a sympathetic ear like Steve, but he lavished everyone with money and expense and technology. It screamed of insecurity to Harry, but he wasn't going to point it out, Tony was doing fine, especially with the arc reactor in his chest, most people would have just keeled over and let death take them, but Tony was one of a kind and he wouldn't accept anything lightly, so of course he had found a way to combat what was happening to him, even if he had to build it himself.

Bruce was just Bruce, Harry hadn't met the Hulk yet, but Bruce was such a kind and patient man, helping him and willing to listen and Harry could see the doctor in the man that had helped people out in isolated villages for pennies.

Harry chuckled as he thought of Thor. The god was hilarious without even knowing it and easily kept him entertained, whether he was misunderstanding something someone had said, or learning how to play videogames with Clint and Tony. Needless to say that the Wii Kinect was the best console for Thor, who liked doing the actions himself and not pushing a button to do the same action. Tony was mumbling about making a new console to incorporate the best of all of them for Thor to play with, Harry wondered sometimes how Tony had time for all the parties and galas he was invited to with all the things he had planned to do.

Harry put his empty mug down and picked up his wand again, doing simple children's tricks just to feel the rush of magic through his body; the familiar warmth was comforting like nothing else ever had been, though his five broken toy soldiers had come close. Dudley had fallen over and sat on his whole army, buckling them and flattening some, he had managed to save five from the bin. Nolan, Jolen, Bowen, Rowan and Conan.

He had named them in his childish mind, thinking that a name made them more real, so that when he had talked to them, it made him feel better. He knew now it had been a coping mechanism for his lonely, isolated childhood.

He lost track of time and before he knew it he had been gone for three hours, just sat on his rug thinking and planning and wondering and scheduling.

He stood up and put his mug in the sink, he stretched wondering if he should start making his way back before the Avengers got the entire of S.H.I.E.L.D out looking for him, but the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly prickled and stood up on end and Harry looked quickly to the side, through his kitchen window to see a man looking at him through the barrel of a gun.

Harry ducked automatically as the glass in the window shattered above him and he couldn't help but think this was round two for his kidnappers, who apparently now wanted him dead and not alive so they could torture information out of him because that shot would have definitely been a killing blow, it had been a head shot.

Harry moved away from the kitchen window quickly and snatched his wand from his thigh holster, he made sure all the doors and windows were locked and went up to the second floor, where he made an alarming, heart stopping discover in the form of a hell of a lot of C4 packed up and wired up in his bedroom and spare room.

He had been in a house filled with C4 for over three hours and he hadn't noticed. He hadn't checked because this was his house, he hadn't expected anything like this in his house, he would have swept an unknown address automatically, but this went beyond, those people must have been watching his house, just waiting for him to come back so they could blow him to kingdom come and that man outside was probably a watcher and he knew he was in here, he was likely going to detonate the bomb, he had to leave now.

Harry gripped his wand tightly and turned on the spot. The crack of Apparation and the familiar constricting sensation and then he was on the cold pavement sucking in deep breaths and trying not to vomit. He hadn't gone far, just behind the next house as he had no idea what the effects of Apparation had on pregnancy or unborn babies, he hadn't read that far yet, didn't think he had needed too and now it was too late if it was dangerous to his baby, because it was either Apparate or blow up as he heard the almighty explosion that left his ears ringing and almost deafened him. He was thrown backwards onto his back and felt some stinging pain which probably meant some debris had caught him.

The tears came before he could stop them. Almost everything he owned was in that house. Most of the pictures of his friends and parents, Sirius and Remus, his documents and paperwork that allowed him into this country, his passport, his house. All gone.

He heard the sirens and knew it would be safe to come out, the perpetrator would be long gone if the emergency services had arrived.

Harry stashed his wand into his holster, ignoring the blood on his hand and the sting that accompanied the movement.

He took a shuddering breath as he sat up and looked at where his house had used to be. There must have been another bomb in the basement, because the entire house, right down to the foundations was just gone, leaving a huge crater in the middle of the street.

He sat there and cried until suddenly there was a man touching him, Harry jerked and was shushed by the bonded Alpha, who checked him over, cataloguing injuries, apparently he didn't have anything major injured because he was being shushed gently and then carried to a nearby ambulance.

He was being cleaned and patched up when S.H.I.E.L.D arrived, the Avengers in tow as they looked to where his house would have been. He wondered if Jarvis had told them he was at home, though judging from their devastated faces, the A.I. had informed them.

Tony took out his Starkphone and suddenly Harry heard the faint ringtone for his phone coming from the smouldering, burning wreckage that firefighters were battling to put out. Harry could have giggled insanely at the irony. His house was obliterated, but the Starkphone that had been in his satchel had survived the blast. He started crying again.

"Hey, come on, you're alright, you're fine. You're not too badly hurt, you had a lucky escape, just a few scratches and burns." The medic told him softly, smiling boyishly.

"That was my house." Harry sniffed.

All at once the medic stiffened and called over his partner, having a whispered conversation with her, before he came back to Harry and smoothed his hair from his face.

"The police will need to speak to you, but you're going to be just fine."

The medic left him to see if there were any more injured people and Harry wanted a familiar face, he got up on wobbly legs, trying to brush some of the black soot and dirt from him as he weaved his way, almost drunkenly, to the Avengers.

They were demanding answers that the police didn't have, ranting and raving, though Tony's voice could be heard the most, though Steve's was a close second. It was actually Clint who turned and saw him first and he didn't make any sound or gasp as Harry blinked and was then suddenly in the man's arms being squeezed tightly, he didn't make a murmur about the pain on his fresh cuts, grazes and burns.

"You move fast." Harry garbled out stupidly.

Clint said nothing as he held Harry tighter.

"I'm okay. The medic said I was okay, just cuts and burns from being too close."

"Never do this again." Clint's voice was strangled and harsh, he sounded close to tears himself and two fresh tears joined the tracks already on Harry's cheeks and down his neck, cutting a pathway through the soot, blood and dirt.

"I do try not to get blown up every day. This was a one off." Harry sniffed as he wrapped his aching arms around Clint and held on.

Clint moved Harry's body to sit his legs more comfortably around his waist and moved him onto just his one arm as the other came around to cup his face gently, his thumb rubbing away the tear tracks on the one half of his face. The look on his face hurt Harry's heart and he couldn't believe he had ever thought ill of this man before him. Almost getting blown up really did put things into perspective.

"I'm sorry." Harry said seriously, even as another wave of tears started, it seemed his hormones wouldn't let something like this slide and he was having his tearful breakdown after all.

"Don't be, just…just don't do it again." Clint murmured as he tucked Harry's head under his chin.

"Clint, what are you doing?" Steve's voice cut through their moment and Harry popped his head over Clint's shoulder.

"Hi Steve." He said softly, looking at the Captain and the rest of the Avengers, Phil was there and Fury too.

"Agent Potter, it seems you had a close call." Fury said as he walked closer, looking at him through his one good eye.

"Very close. Too close."

"What happened?"

"I was just about to leave and go back to the Tower, the hair on my neck prickled and I turned to see a man aiming a gun at me. I ducked on automatic and I don't know what made me do it Sir, but I went upstairs, I remembered I put my phone in my satchel, which was in the living room, but I went to the house phone upstairs. The entire upper level was C4 wired together in blocks. I was in a house filled with C4 for three hours and I didn't notice."

"How did you get out?"

"I knew the man outside would detonate, I jumped the entire staircase and almost ripped the door off its hinges to get out. I made it to the neighbour's garden when the house blew."

"Are you injured?"

Harry shook his head. "The medic said I had a lucky escape, just scrapes and a few burns. Probably, mostly shock." He added as he realised he was shaking. "Not sure about the baby, that jump down the stairs couldn't have done any good."

"We'll get you and the baby checked out as soon as we get you back to S.H.I.E.L.D, now do you remember anything about the man that shot at you?"

"He wasn't dressed like an assassin. He was dressed to blend in, he was wearing a pale green shirt and greyish jeans; he had pale, very short, reddish blond hair, blue eyes and an ugly mouth. I could probably draw him if you'd like."

Fury gave him a short nod.

"You remember all that from a quick glimpse?"

Harry nodded. "I'm not likely to forget the face of the man who shot at me and almost blew me to pieces. I'm good, but under pressure I'm better."

"Why were you even here?"

"I wanted some of my stuff. I run out of clean clothes and I wanted my favourite blanket and the picture of…" Harry stopped as he realised that picture was gone. Demolished like everything else. Another wave of misery hit him with fresh tears. "It doesn't matter now, it's all gone. Everything I own was in that house and now I have nothing."

"It's just materialistic things." Natasha told him, trying to do it softly and comfortingly, but it hit Harry like a brick.

"My parents are dead, my family and friends are all dead, the only things I have to remember them by were in that house, all the photos, my parents wedding rings, most of my photo albums, my Mother's journal, my Godfather's motorbike and leather jacket, it might be silly, materialistic things to you but to me they were sentimental, I can't even replace them because they just won't mean the same!"

Clint squeezed him tightly and pressed his cheek against the side of his face as Harry tried to control the urge to bawl his eyes out as the realisation hit him that he had lost almost everything that meant something to him.

"I don't want to be awake." He said softly.

"What was that?" Steve asked him, stepping closer.

Before Harry could say anything, the medic was back, looking frantic.

"There you are, you shouldn't be walking in your state, you've had a huge shock."

"I don't want to be awake." Harry told the medic.

"You want me to put you to sleep?"

Harry nodded.

"It's too dangerous with the shock you're in."

"Isn't there anything weaker?" Clint asked.

"Nothing I would feel safe using on him in his state."

"I can't be awake; I can't take this on top of everything else. I can't deal with it right now."

"You're a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, deal with it." Was Fury's advice and Harry did as the Director ordered and sucked in a breath and tried to detach his mind from what had happened. Like he had done when he was being tortured, but then he had started seeing people who weren't there, talking to hallucinations and hearing them speak back, so maybe it wasn't the best idea, but he was completely wrung out, he just wanted to sleep, was that so bad?

Clint wouldn't let go of him and when the police had tried to speak to him, Tony had almost bitten their heads off with his usual sarcastic manner.

Coulson intervened and updated the police on what Harry had told them, they didn't like not speaking to Harry personally, but under the might that was Phil Coulson, they let it stand and took Phil's story as Harry's own, but of course he had lied to the Avengers, Coulson and Fury, so the police had a false report anyway, he wasn't about to tell anyone that he had vanished from the upstairs landing and a second later he appeared in the neighbour's garden just as the house blew up. He wasn't that stupid, no matter what state he was in.

He was taken to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters first and he was checked out by the same doctor that had performed his first scan, but when he had tried doing anything inappropriate Steve had almost broken his wrist in anger, it would at the least be very badly bruised and as an older man, it wouldn't heal quickly.

The baby was fine and Harry breathed easier that he hadn't killed or harmed the baby in any way that he could see or the scan could pick up on. He'd check his books from St Fiacre's when he got back to the Tower to make sure no repercussions showed up in the pregnancy or with the baby due to his quick Apparation.

Clint still refused to let him go, which Harry didn't mind as he was very tired and drained at the moment, he would have taken anyone carrying him at the moment, but he'd much prefer to just be put down and allowed to sleep where he lay even if it was in a gutter.

They made it back to the Tower and Harry was settled on the settee, a blanket thrown over him and tucked in as he sunk bonelessly into it, ignoring the hands touching his face, from the callouses on every single finger it could only be Clint. Tony didn't have a callous on either of his fourth or fifth fingers and he was the only one who had near enough the same sized hands as Clint, Steve and Thor's were much bigger and Bruce's were smaller.

"Let me sleep Clint." Harry murmured softly, lifting his arm half-heartedly to brush him away.

"Sorry." The man sighed and sat back away from him.

"'S okay, just want to sleep."

"Sleep then, you need some rest."

Harry couldn't reply, he couldn't do anything other than lie there as he drifted to sleep, his mind and emotions going into overdrive and knocking him out. He stayed there sleeping for several hours.

* * *

A/N: So it is international happiness day, so I'm trying to make my readers happy with another update and maybe an update for Rise of the Drackens on the way too. Make me happy in return with reviews, or write me a Harry Potter/Avengers one-shot. One of the two, or you know, both because I'm updating twice ;)

There were no questions I don't think, not that I've seen anyway, but maybe that's because the chapter's only been up for twenty-four hours, but I'm not complaining at all, I hope you've all enjoyed this.

StarLight Massacre. X


	10. Overcoming Irrationality

_Last Time _

"_Let me sleep Clint." Harry murmured softly, lifting his arm half-heartedly to brush him away._

"_Sorry." The man sighed and sat back away from him._

"'_S okay, just want to sleep."_

"_Sleep then, you need some rest."_

_Harry couldn't reply, he couldn't do anything other than lie there as he drifted to sleep, his mind and emotions going into overdrive and knocking him out. He stayed there sleeping for several hours._

Chapter Ten – Overcoming Irrationality

When Harry woke up he felt empty and listless. It looked to be afternoon of the next day if the sun through the windows was any indication.

"Jarvis, where is everyone?" He asked softly.

"I was told to inform them as soon as you woke, they will be with you momentarily."

Harry groaned. He didn't want to be fussed. He went to the kitchen and made himself coffee. The smell usually made him feel sick, but he wanted coffee this morning, just to settle himself.

He was right, the smell did make him feel nauseous, but he was able to drink it down without it coming back up, which was a plus.

"Caffeine is bad for the baby." Bruce informed him.

"I know, but I want one cup of coffee, it won't kill either of us."

"Please tell me you're not going to get reckless now." Tony said.

"Like you, you mean?" Harry chuckled. "No, I hardly think having one cup of coffee means I'm being reckless or flying off the handle. I'm used to almost dying now. I need something to settle myself and in the past it was always coffee, so I'm hoping one cup will help keep me grounded and settle me down a bit."

"There are plenty of other drinks here, there's herbal tea and hot chocolate."

Harry stiffened. "I was drinking hot chocolate before the explosion." He replied as calmly and casually as he could. "But lay off, I'm fine."

"Do you want anything to eat?" Steve's large hands wrung together and Harry tried not to show any tension, he knew Steve wanted to be fluttering around him, settling him back on the settee, feeding him and making sure everything was alright and that he was fine and resting, but that wasn't what Harry needed right now, which was likely why he was restraining himself. Steve was very perceptive of other people's needs.

"I'm fine, I've only just woken up, I don't want to eat just yet. But seriously, I'm fine; I'll get over this and get through this. I always do."

"You mean you'll block it out, stamp it down and bottle everything up." Bruce gave him a look.

Harry groaned. "So what if I do? It's worked well enough in the past."

"The little outburst about your family." Bruce was speaking softly and carefully, so as not to upset him. Harry would have been angry, except it was working.

"A minor crack, I don't usually show that much raw emotion without filtering it."

"You feel like you need to filter your emotions, why?"

"Oh stop with the twenty questions Bruce, I don't need a psychiatrist."

"Lucky for you then I'm a scientist, not a psychiatrist. These bottled up emotions are not good for you Harry, if you've had them for a long time then I'm surprised you passed your psyche evaluation to get into S.H.I.E.L.D."

Harry licked his lips; he may have used a memory altering charm to make the psychiatrist believe he'd done his evaluation when in fact he had barely stepped inside the door.

"You lied in your evaluation, didn't you?"

"Well, not exactly, I more, omitted the truth?"

"And the psychiatrist didn't see through it?" Clint asked with a frown. "Every time I try and leave things out she pounces on me like an old dog with a bone."

Harry sighed. "There's not a lot of information on me, my age counts for me in that and the move over from Britain helped as all my files are still secured overseas, I had new medical folders and everything when I came over so everything was fresh and new when S.H.I.E.L.D took me on, they had no reason to suspect anything untoward had ever happened to me in my life and I liked it that way."

"Your file labels your parents as deceased, as of nineteen-ninety-one. You would have been what? A year old."

"A year and three months." Harry corrected detachedly.

"That's hard on anyone."

Harry shrugged. "Easier than some, I never knew them so I had no time to actually miss them or for their death to emotionally hurt me, I was too young to understand."

"But you felt the pain of their loss."

"Of course. All throughout my childhood, I wished for them to come back every day, that childish thought that if you wish hard enough it'll happen."

"Were you happy during your childhood?"

"I thought you said you weren't a psychiatrist?" Harry demanded.

"I'm not, but that was a very violent way to avoid the question, were you happy as a child?"

Harry breathed out harshly and dragged a hand through his hair. "No. My entire life has been miserable from as far back as I can remember."

"Your folder says you went to live with your Mother's sister and her husband and son. An address wasn't given."

"I don't know where they live now, when I was seventeen they moved and never told me where they were going so I couldn't put an address for S.H.I.E. files."

"That must have added to the hurt."

"Not really, I was glad to see the back of them and that house."

"Come and sit down Harry, just come and talk to us."

"Why? Why do I have to talk about this now, why are you dragging it up?"

"Because we didn't know it was there inside you before and now that we do, it has to come up, you're having a baby Harry and these emotions and bad feelings aren't good for the baby, it'll be good to get it all out."

"I feel like it's the only thing holding me together at the moment, if I get rid of it, I'm going to collapse in on myself."

"You won't." Steve assured him with a hand to his shoulder. "We'll be here to help you."

Harry was steered to the kitchen table and sat down gently; he was given a glass of juice and was surrounded by people. Clint and Steve on one side, Bruce directly opposite, Thor and Natasha were on the end and had probably been told not to open their mouths as they were being very quiet and Tony was sat next to Bruce, opposite Steve, who it seemed kicked him every time he opened his mouth to say something.

"I know this is going to be hard Harry, just answer as truthfully as you can. Were you ever abused at home?"

Harry shrugged. "Depends on your definition of abuse."

"What's your definition of abuse?" Bruce asked back. "Is there anything they did to you something that you'd do to your own baby?"

Harry's hand jumped to his stomach and he glared at Bruce. "No, never!"

"So what did they do that you wouldn't do to your baby?"

Harry sighed and rested his forehead against the table. "Can we not do this Bruce? I feel bad enough as it is without dragging this up as well. I could have lost my life yesterday, my baby's life!"

"It seems you're quite good at doing that, that's twice since we've known you, how many times; do you know about, that you have almost lost your life?"

Harry groaned and counted them. The bomb, the gun aimed at his head, the kidnapping, several times during the war, including actually dying, no matter how fleetingly, twice during the hunt for the Horcruxes, almost being killed by the Inferi, the duel and possession at the Ministry of Magic, four times during the Tri-wizard challenge, the Dementors and the fall at the Quidditch match, the Basilisk, the Philosophers Stone, several times at the Dursleys and the attack by Voldemort when he was a baby.

"Harry?"

"Hold on!" Harry snapped.

"Is it too difficult a question?"

"No, it's about thirty."

There was silence as Harry let them soak that up. Bruce recovered first.

"Do you want to say what those thirty times were?"

Harry shook his head sharply. "No."

"How many of them were when you were a young child?"

"Give me a cut off age."

"We'll say thirteen."

Harry shrugged. "About ten, maybe more, I don't remember a lot from when I was really young."

"There were ten instances that you remember where you almost lost your life before the age of thirteen?"

Harry remained quiet and let them speculate in their own minds.

"Harry, have you ever actually died and had to be resuscitated?"

"Once that I'm sure on, but I came through on my own, the others are sketchy."

"How many other times?"

"Maybe two, no more than three."

"Were any of those from before you were a teenager?"

"One, maybe two, the other maybe was when I was fifteen."

"The one instance you're definite on?"

"I was eighteen."

"The trigger than made you come over to the US?"

"One of them."

"Do you have any medical records of heart problems or diseases that could cause you to stop breathing or stop your heart from beating?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm healthy and so was my blood family."

"Your blood family?"

"My Mother's sister's husband and his son, they had an obesity problem and all the ill effects that go with over eating and no exercise."

Bruce nodded his understanding.

"This question is going to be difficult for you Harry, but how many people have you known to have died? You mentioned that all of your friends had died."

That was the question Harry had hoped didn't come up. "Including my parents?"

Bruce nodded and Harry sighed. "Including people I didn't like and actively hated?"

"Yes, those too."

"Then I can't count them."

"Why not, are they not people you have known to be killed?"

"That's not what I meant, there are too many of them to count. It's going to be hundreds."

"What were you doing with your life?" Tony asked.

Harry looked at him briefly before looking back at the table top. He said nothing.

"Okay Harry, just friends and family first then, how many do you think?"

"About twenty-six."

"And of those, how many did you see die personally?"

"Nine." Harry replied easily. He still had nightmares about them. His Mother, Cedric, Sirius, Dobby, Neville, Fred, Hermione, Snape and Dumbledore.

"What happened Harry? Something terrible must have happened for all of those people to die, you said hundreds, hundreds of people don't just die with no record of it."

Harry stood up and backed away, he turned and fled to his bedroom, half expecting to be chased or dragged back and made to answer, but he wasn't, they let him go and he curled onto his bed and cried.

He had suppressed it as much as he could during the meeting, but he couldn't any longer, he needed to let it out in privacy.

He crawled over to the half unpacked hold all bag, the only possessions he now had. He dug out all of his photos and the albums closest to him, the only ones he now had left, the ones he hadn't been able to leave behind, he wished now he had packed everything, but hindsight and all that, he hadn't expected his house to be blown up, he had fully expected to be able to go back some when soon, when everything was sorted out, so he had brought a few essentials and keepsakes he just couldn't leave behind, but everything he had left in the supposed safety of his home was gone now, blown up, burnt beyond repair or just missing completely. It made bile climb at his throat, but he swallowed it back down bitterly. It wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened, at least no one had been hurt in the explosion and he still had his memories, if he could somehow get hold of a Penseive he would always be able to remember them, but Penseives were rare, expensive and hard to come by, though he had been looking for a long time.

Harry turned the pages of one of his only remaining photo albums slowly, taking in the faces and the smiles of the people in them. They were still under a stasis spell because Jarvis would report directly to Tony if he saw Harry with moving photos, but just seeing the faces and buildings of people and places he had once known and been to, it brought memories back fresh and clean and it made him smile softly. If he still had his memories, he hadn't lost everything, he could still carry on.

These people in the photos had given their lives believing there was a chance, a hope for a brighter future. They had all died believing he could finish Voldemort off, believing in him and his abilities. He had done it, he had died doing it, but the cost was so great, he almost wished he hadn't been able to win and then he felt so guilty and ashamed of himself as he thought of the rest of the people, magical and Muggle alike, that would have lost their lives too if he had failed. But why, why did he have to be the sole survivor of his friends and family? Why couldn't someone have struck him dead as soon as he finished off Voldemort? Why did he have to be the one to suffer on alone?

He didn't know how long he sat and cried over his photos before he was aware that he wasn't alone. He jerked his head up to look at Clint, who held his hands up as he came closer and sat on the bed.

"Steve wanted to know if you wanted dinner."

Harry shook his head, trying to brush away and stop his tears from falling.

"It's alright to cry Harry. I cry as well sometimes. I lost my parents to a car crash when I was very young, my mentors turned out to be evil, embezzling bastards who tried to kill me when I was fourteen and my own brother tried to kill me not too long after that when he found out I refused to take the money that was offered to me by my mentors when I caught them embezzling. They were the only people I had in the world until S.H.I.E.L.D scooped me up and I lost all of them, I was alone for years before Agent Coulson picked me up from the streets and put a bow in my hands once again, the police had taken the one I had from the circus away years before because it was a deadly weapon and I had no license for it. I loved that bow, I learnt to shoot and to aim with it, I can't complain about my new one though, but the one from the circus will always be my first."

They sat there in silence, reflecting as Harry turned another page in his album.

"I never wanted kids." Clint told him after a while. "I was such a fuck up in life, in everything; I never wanted to subject a baby to my lack of parenting skills, to my screwy decisions or my lifestyle. But now that I do have a baby on the way, if you'll let me into their life, I'm sure I'll try my hardest, though you're going to have to stop me from making screwy decisions."

Harry snorted. "Only if you stop me from making a total fuck up of it. I've never really been around babies or young children or even pregnant people. I have no clue what I'm doing and I'm not ready for this."

"I am sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"I know, it wasn't your fault, it was a happenstance of chance, it could have been anyone who got me pregnant, including one of my captors or torturers, I couldn't imagine having a baby with Koli. I was angry at everything and I needed someone to blame, someone to be a target for my anger and you were so very easy, so convenient and that was wrong of me."

"Wait, Harry, who's Koli?"

Harry blinked. "I, the man who tortured me Clint, didn't I mention that?"

Clint shook his head. "Jarvis, give the name to Tony please, and tell Steve we won't be making dinner."

"I could have sworn I mentioned it."

"Do you know any other names?"

Harry shook his head. "No, that was the only name I ever heard from them and I think it was a slip up."

"That's alright, why don't you get some sleep hmm?"

Harry sighed and lay down. "Stay with me please?"

"I'll stay for as long as you want me too." Clint promised.

That made Harry smile as he curled up and tried to sleep, maybe talking wasn't so bad, maybe telling them everything would help him feel better and would stop him from stressing so much, maybe for these few people he could break the Statute of Secrecy.

* * *

Harry woke up slowly and sluggishly, there was a comfortable weight and warmth against his back and it felt nice. He smiled, still half asleep and snuggled closer to the warmth, which suddenly moved and a band tightened around his waist.

Harry was suddenly just awake and he peered over his shoulder, not sure what to expect, but a peacefully sleeping Clint wasn't it. Harry went boneless with relief, both at not being held against his will again and at not having any nightmares so the Avengers thought him even more pathetic than they already did.

He lay there for a long while, just thinking and wondering what his baby would be like, would he have a boy or a girl, would they look more like him or more like Clint? How would they act, what would they like? He was three months pregnant and he was only just starting to firm up, not in a muscle tone kind of way, but like there was a hard stone under his skin. A stone that would soon be a rock and would then grow to be a small boulder. He wasn't looking forward to that.

He eased himself up and away from Clint and got out of the bed. He was hungry now and he wanted something to eat, no matter the time.

Clint must have been tired though, because he had heard that the Agent was a light sleeper and the smallest noise or movement woke him up, Harry had managed to get out of the bed and stumble over the edge of the rug without him waking up.

He made it to Tony's penthouse, only to find the Avengers watching a film; they were all looking at him though.

"Sorry for interrupting."

"That's more than fine Harry, your dinner's in the oven with Clint's if you want it, is he awake?"

Harry shook his head. "He's still asleep."

Harry took his plate out of the oven and ate quietly, listening to the film and smiling when the Avengers laughed, particularly Thor, whose laugh could have shattered the windows. They were obviously watching a comedy and when he was done he washed his plate and fork and joined them, slipping himself between Tony and Thor. He smiled wider when Thor wrapped a huge arm around him and invited him to cuddle for warmth.

He was getting more comfortable around these people, like he had with Ron and then finally Hermione after the troll incident. He had been desperate for a friend, any friend, so he had worked his hardest at making friends with them both and they had both cared for him in return, but they were gone now, had been for two years and it was their loss that hurt the most, they had been there for the longest, had known him the best and now they were gone.

Was he unconsciously looking to make these people his friends, or was it just working out that way with the situation? He didn't know, he couldn't tell, but he liked it, if only he could get Steve to back off his over concerned mother henning and get Natasha to either apologise, get off his case or go away everything would be perfect. Well, near enough perfect.

Clint stumbled from the lift an hour later and Steve directed him to the kitchen to get his dinner. The film had long ended; Tony and Bruce had gone down to the lab after Tony had an epiphany, though he had those very often, and wanted Bruce's input on his idea. Natasha had slinked off, thankfully, leaving Harry with Thor and Steve, not who he would have chosen to spend an evening with, but Thor was keeping him very entertained with stories from Asgard and what it was like growing up there, in a city of gold and light, as he claimed it to be. Steve was behaving, he was sketching in a leather bound notebook, he was over halfway through the book, so if every page was a picture, he was an avid artist.

Clint ate in the kitchen and then wandered over and sat next to Harry, even though there was more space on the other settee with Steve, but Harry didn't mind, he was getting better with Clint now he realised he was scapegoating Clint for what had happened to him. It wasn't fair and it wasn't Clint's fault, but sometimes emotions and thoughts weren't always rational and he hadn't even realised until his own epiphany when he'd gotten the space he needed to actually think about it that he was being irrational in his blame of Clint.

He took a breath and shifted so he could recline against Clint, who had turned the TV onto a late night film. The other man's body jerked in surprise, but an arm quickly wormed its way over his shoulder and held him across the chest. Clint's legs slipped up onto the settee and pulled Harry down further, more comfortably and they watched the film quietly, Thor wandered off, but Steve stayed where he was, pencil scratching against the paper in different strokes. Harry didn't ask what he was drawing; he didn't want to disturb him as he seemed thoroughly engrossed in his drawing.

Harry stayed on Clint until the film went off a few hours later and he yawned widely.

"What time is it?"

"Almost one in the morning." Clint answered as he stretched.

"Oh, I'm so tired and I shouldn't be. I've been asleep half the afternoon."

"You're pregnant, it's normal to feel like this I think."

Harry nodded. "Then I'm going to be spending a lot more time in my bed. Good night."

"Night Harry." Steve called out.

"Night." Clint smiled.

Harry went down a floor in the lift and smothered several yawns on the way to his room. He closed the door and pulled over the little bolt lock and shedded his clothes, and crawled into his bed.

He stayed awake, touching his stomach, trying to feel the baby growing within, but there was nothing there to feel and there was no movement that he could feel. He sighed and pulled the duvet higher, moving onto his side and curling up. It had been a stressful few days, traumatic really, but he couldn't allow himself to dwell on it, if he thought about it too much, then he was going to break down, or go completely insane over it and he couldn't allow that to happen, not just for himself, but for his baby, what would a complete and utter breakdown mean for his baby? He didn't know, but it couldn't be anything good or something his baby needed as it tried to grow and develop inside him.

Harry sighed and cleared his mind as best as he could, he thought about good things, like his changing relationship with most of the Avengers, how kind Phil was to him and how protective Director Fury had been and how supportive Clint was trying to be despite not knowing how. It was sweet, but Harry still wasn't entirely comfortable, like when Clint's hand had accidentally fallen below his belly button, that had made him flinch and almost freak and then again when his fingers had brushed a nipple. It made him uncomfortable and unleashed a knee jerk reaction to flinch away to protect himself, but Clint had removed his hand as soon as Harry flinched and apologised, his hand moving back to the centre of his chest and all was forgiven and Harry could calm down again and relax.

They were both trying so hard, Clint had been trying hard from the beginning, but now that Harry was actually opening his eyes and mind and had become receptive of Clint's attention and help, he could work with him and they could both help one another. Emotional and irrational he might be sometimes, but he wasn't as foolish as some people made him out to be, he was able to analyse his behaviour and emotions and make the logical leap that he had been out of order, but he had only been able to realise that when he had been given the space to think and realise it himself.

Harry sighed and kept those nice thoughts in his mind and calmed himself down enough to sleep. Tomorrow he'd try as he had today to get used to Clint, if he just took it one day at a time he had a better chance of getting used to it and accepting the change in his life than if he tried to get over it all at once and overcome everything in one go. His baby deserved to know its Father, no matter the circumstances of conception. Harry wanted to carry on living, despite what had happened to him and what had happened in his life, he had always wanted to carry on living and now he had a reason to, a better reason that just wanting to carry on, he had a baby to live for, a baby who would need him for years and years to come and he would always do his best by his baby. He swore it.

* * *

A/N: Right, I think this story is moving on nicely, another eight to ten chapters and I should be done with it, though plots never turn out how I want them too so it may be less or more depending on if I can get it to where I want it to be, we'll see.

Thanks to **Kyurengo** for being the **600****th**** reviewer**.

**fan of fanfiction 1**: A lot of average people don't use banks or safety deposit boxes to store their stuff, I don't. If my house was bombed or I had a fire, I'd lose everything I have, just like Harry. He wasn't expecting his house to be targeted like this or maybe he would have stored his stuff in a storage unit or something, but people don't go through their lives expecting their houses and possessions to be blown up at random, so they don't think about it.

**darkest magic**: He has his invisibility cloak, it was one of the things he couldn't be parted from, he's had it with him since it was given to him when he was eleven, that was one thing he didn't leave behind, but the things that were left at the house are gone.

**Someone's Ghost:** I would like to point out that me updating was for international happiness day, it is September in the fic, so it's not happiness day in the fic, so blowing up Harry's house was not actually done on international happiness day. Natasha did try to be nice, but she's not used to it or dealing with people's feelings, so her attempts come across as wrong and sometimes offensive.

Someone asked me something but I can't find the question, but it was something about Harry having wards on his house to protect against fire. That protection would have been on the outside of the property to stop fire from getting into the house and taking hold if it starts in the house, how do you contain an explosion from two trigger points with that much C4? The wards stopped the explosion from destroying the entire street, but it was centred in Harry's house, the explosion overpowered the wards that are meant for a mere fire, not a triggered, concentrated C4 explosion, thus rendering the wards ineffective, they didn't stop the fire, they just contained the explosion to Harry's house.

Right, I believe that's all, I hope you've enjoyed it and I'll see you next update,

StarLight Massacre. X


	11. Moving On

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to **Meggplant**, who gave me the boost I needed to get this chapter done, finally. I'm eternal grateful for your review, thank you.

_Last Time_

_Harry sighed and kept those nice thoughts in his mind and calmed himself down enough to sleep. Tomorrow he'd try as he had today to get used to Clint, if he just took it one day at a time he had a better chance of getting used to it and accepting the change in his life than if he tried to get over it all at once and overcome everything in one go. His baby deserved to know its Father, no matter the circumstances of conception. Harry wanted to carry on living, despite what had happened to him and what had happened in his life, he had always wanted to carry on living and now he had a reason to, a better reason than just wanting to carry on, he had a baby to live for, a baby who would need him for years and years to come and he would always do his best by his baby. He swore it._

Chapter Eleven – Moving On

Another month and the end of October approached, Harry got quieter and quieter as the thirty-first loomed up over him and he knew the Avengers noticed, they didn't say anything though, but that they stopped talking sometimes when he came into sight of them let him know they were talking about him and were probably worried, but Halloween was a day of reflection and mourning for him, he had long since outgrown the children's holiday and had come to realise it's more sombre side.

He was now four months pregnant and he had a small bump where his baby resided, his relationship with Clint had grown to where Harry was comfortable with Clint touching and cupping the bump and talking about the baby. They were going shopping for bigger, baggier clothes for Harry to wear as his jeans were getting to be a bit tight at the hips.

Harry was happy to have the escort this time. He hadn't exactly been afraid to go outside since the incident, but he definitely did not want to leave the Tower alone, though it wasn't like he had any place to go now either.

Steve had wanted to come with him too, but Harry had shot that idea down quickly, two seemed like too much of a guard escort than accompanying him shopping, so he had taken Clint and left Steve to his morning of gym activities.

"Do you know where you want to go?" Clint asked.

Harry shrugged. "I can check out a few shops, I'm not a fan of shopping, but unfortunately it's become a necessity."

Clint just nodded, not sure what action or word would garner what response. They'd been working on that, but it was slow going and the major setback of Harry shouting at Clint for smiling when he had fallen asleep on the settee during a team movie and woken up with an uncomfortably full bladder that he had danced all the way to the bathroom with was still fresh in all of their minds. He hadn't meant to snap, but their teasing just hadn't stopped and it had gotten out of hand.

Harry's first order of business was finding the little shop he had come to the last time he was in this shopping centre and get some real clothes that would support his pregnancy, not clothes that made it look like he was pregnant so the whole world knew. He wanted to hide it for as long as he possibly could, not advertise it to all and sundry.

He slipped into the shop when he found it again, Clint just behind him. He was wearing two guns; one at his hip and one at the small of his back, Harry had sighed as he caught sight of them before they had left, but said nothing about Clint coming on this trip armed, at least he hadn't bought his bow and there were no doubts that he had wanted too.

Paul was behind the counter, his own belly absolutely huge now, a little boy sat on the counter with a colouring book between his legs and a box of crayons spilled around him.

"Hi Paul." Harry said softly, trying not to startle him. He didn't want to send the man into labour just from a shock.

Paul looked at him and then his eyes widened. "I was wondering where you had gotten too. I remember your eyes."

Paul came out from behind the counter and hugged him like Harry was his best friend. It made him uncomfortable, but he hugged back awkwardly.

"Well you certainly have started showing." Paul grinned. "You're three months now?"

"Four." Harry corrected with a grimace.

"I'm eight months and I was ready to give birth at least two months ago."

Harry grinned.

"Is this the baby's Father or just a supporting friend?"

"Baby's Father, Clint Barton." Harry introduced.

Clint offered a small twitch of lips, he was uncomfortable and he wrapped an arm around Harry to keep from touching Paul.

"We have a lot to do Harry, is this where you wanted to shop?" He asked the discomfort clear in his voice. Well aware that he was the only Alpha in a small confined space with two pregnant Omegas.

Harry nodded his head. "I need clothes; these ones are getting too tight."

"All the clothing is along the back half of the shop." Paul gave him a smile. "I don't want to leave Benji, Killian left him once to show around customers and he toppled off the counter, I still haven't forgiven him for that even if Benji wasn't hurt."

Harry smiled and went to look at the clothes. He was happy to note that they did a range of clothes that looked completely normal, but with hidden support for pregnancy. Harry only got a couple pairs of jeans, tops he didn't need yet, he had a couple of overlarge jumpers and tee-shirts he could wear still, but he was sure even those wouldn't fit by the end. Maybe he could ask Steve or Thor for some of their shirts, they'd be big enough to fit him even if he was at the end of a pregnancy with sextuplets.

Harry checked the Avengers onesies and hid the Hawkeye one from Clint, who was staring at all the baby stuff awkwardly. Harry bought the Thor onesie for Thor personally; he meant it when he said he wasn't putting his child in it and picked up the newly in stock Hulk onesie. He paid for them and buried them in the bag under his jeans.

"Are you ready?" He asked Clint, who snapped to attention and strode to his side quickly. "Bye Paul!"

"Bye Harry." Paul winked back.

"What do you need now?"

Harry shrugged. "Food, I'm hungry."

"Okay, do you want to find a food court?"

"Hell no! I want real food, not processed shit." Harry said stubbornly. "Take me to a real restaurant."

Clint couldn't help grinning. "You're so demanding, are you sure you're not a Beta?"

Harry snorted. "Do I look like a bloody Beta Clint?"

"You act like one." Clint grumbled.

"I'm taking that as a compliment."

"I'm sure you are."

They came out of the shopping centre, or mall, as Clint called it and wandered around until they found a small restaurant.

It felt a lot like a date, which was probably why Clint was looking so nervous, but Harry didn't mind, he ignored him mostly and perused the menu happily.

"See anything you like?" Clint asked quietly, looking through his own menu.

Harry hummed. "Yeah, I'm good. I can't decide if I want water or fruit juice though."

"So have both." Clint offered.

Harry grinned. "I knew I kept you around for a reason."

* * *

Harry and Clint made it home without any problems to find Steve looking anxiously at the clock on the wall.

"Please tell me you weren't timing us?" Harry demanded as he stretched out his leg quickly, it was starting to throb.

Steve jumped and spun to look at them, but he looked guilty.

"Really Steve, it's been a little over two hours."

"I know, I just worry about all of you when I don't know exactly where you are."

Harry rolled his eyes and hugged him.

"Don't be so daft, I had Clint, we were just shopping, it was fine. Now I'm going to go and stash my new clothes before Tony gets a hold of them and starts teasing me about the pregnancy support."

Harry went down to his room and stayed there, putting away two of the bodysuits and leaving the one out for Thor. He'd write to the company who made them and point out their terrible slogan addition and see if they'd change it.

Harry took out a list he had written of all the things he needed and sighed. Just getting the stuff his baby would need would cost him a fortune, without buying a new house on top of it. He could afford it, but it seemed like an extravagant expense. Why did his baby need a cot, a bassinet, a carrycot and a Moses basket? Surely just a cot would do it? Maybe a carrycot combi that was also a pram too so he could walk with his baby and carry his baby with him when he needed to.

He shook his head and took out the plain white starter kit he had bought and crossed it off his list, one item down, a hundred or so more to go, or at least it felt like it.

Harry sat on his bed and took the weight off of his throbbing leg; it still pained him, though not as much as before. The potions and salves were doing their jobs wonderfully. He stripped off his too tight jeans and massaged the fading burn scars lightly, with just his fingertips, before he got increasingly harder, massaging the damaged muscles with a groan. It was painful, but he knew as soon as he massaged out the stiffness, it would feel amazing.

As soon as he was done, he reclined back against his pillows and let out a sigh. He turned onto his side and decided to take a small, short nap, just until dinner time. He did not expect to sleep the whole night away and wake up late morning of the next day.

* * *

Harry groaned and sat up groggily. He scrubbed his hand over his eyes and sighed as he realised the time. He huffed and stood up, pulling on a pair of sleeping trousers and changing his tee-shirt. His stomach gurgled and he went in search of a late breakfast, early lunch.

He was alone up on Tony's personal penthouse floor and he enjoyed the peace while he had it. The Avengers probably had another team building thing going on, which is why they weren't here breathing down his neck.

Harry finished eating, washed up his plate and wondered, not for the first time either, why Tony didn't have a dishwasher up here. Everything else was super tech and had strange little gadgets that Harry was afraid to even touch, so why no dishwasher?

He curled up on the settee and watched TV for a bit. He didn't much like TV shows or anything, but he had nothing else to do today. Tomorrow was Halloween, Tony was apparently throwing a party, but Harry was going to spend all day mourning in his room. He'd get in some supplies so he wouldn't disturb the party, or have to venture into it to get what he wanted if he got hungry, but other than that, he'd leave Tony and the Avengers to do what they wanted and he'd do what he always did and hide away.

Tony wandered in an hour later, followed by his bickering teammates. Harry watched them arguing in between themselves, but he hid a smile when Clint broke off and came to sit by him. As his belly, and the baby inside, grew bigger, Clint got more possessive and touchy-feely. He tried to control himself, but he couldn't always manage it, Harry allowed him small touches and acts of possession, but anything too possessive or where he was obviously and blatantly laying claim to him and the baby he put a stop to immediately.

"How are you?" The blond asked by way of greeting, sitting beside him and laying a hand on his belly through his shirt after just a moment of small hesitation.

"Fine, just bored."

"You won't be bored tomorrow!" Tony insisted. "I know you can't drink, but you can still have some fun."

"I'm not going to the party Tony." Harry told him.

"What, why? It's Halloween! You have to come."

"My parents were killed on Halloween, Tony." Harry told him sadly and softly, as if it would take the edge off the horror of the sentence.

"So that's why you've been acting strange all week! Thank fuck for that, we thought you were planning to run away or something."

"Tony! Have a bit of respect and sympathy." Steve answered angrily as he sat on Harry's other side and threw an arm around him, freely offering comfort.

"It's fine Steve. It happened a really long time ago."

"Nineteen years ago." Steve said softly.

"Twenty years tomorrow." Harry corrected.

"But, you're only twenty years old."

Harry shook his head. "I turned twenty-one when I was unconscious in the med bay Steve. The thirty-first of July."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"I wasn't really in my right mind when I first got out of there. I was unconscious for weeks afterward, then when I woke up I was stuck in the med bay with my memories slipping away from me and since then it hasn't really come up. I don't mind, I've spent my last three birthdays on my own doing nothing anyway."

"You became legal to drink in this country and you DIDN'T have a party as soon as you were able!" Tony looked shocked.

"I don't drink. Plus I was pregnant when I got out of there."

"Ah, yes, the baby does put a damper on things, but you can still come to the party and we can use it as a late birthday for you."

Harry shook his head. "My parents still died on that day Tony, thanks, but I don't want a party, I don't want anything but to be left alone to grieve as I do every year."

"Whatever you want Harry." Steve insisted.

"When's your birthday Steve?" Harry asked curiously. "I know it was in the files I read, but I don't remember any of your birthdays."

"July fourth." Steve said with a smile.

"He was ninety-five." Tony told him with a grin.

"You look very good for ninety-five Steve. I'd go for you." Harry chuckle as Steve blushed and glared at Tony for revealing his 'real' age. "You look better now than Tony does, even though you're technically older, you're really younger because of your decades on ice."

"Thank you, Harry." Steve said with a small, happy smile.

"Hey! You're not supposed to gang up on me."

"Whose birthday is next?" Harry asked.

"Bruce's, in December. He's going to be forty-four."

"Thanks for that." Bruce gave a shy smile.

"It's alright Bruce." Harry grinned. "With age comes experience and wisdom. Only Tony hasn't gotten the hang of that yet."

Tony snorted and laughed the loudest of them all at that. "I've got all the experience I need." He told him with a wink.

"Oh please, I don't want to know." Harry replied with a chuckle.

"Clint's birthday is after Bruce's." Tony said. "The seventh of January. He turns forty-two."

Harry felt his body stiffening up, but he forced himself to relax. He was better than this.

"Whose is next?" He forced himself to ask as normally as he could.

"Tasha's." Clint said with a small hesitation. He had noticed, or felt, Harry freeze. Fuck. "Her birthday is March twelfth, she'll be forty-five."

"Then it's yours truly." Tony said with a grin, holding his arms out wide. "May twenty-ninth is the day this gorgeous, brilliant man came into the world and is the day he turns forty-three."

"I never would have known, you're so childlike, I thought you were around my own age, though your wrinkles give you away to anyone who can bear to stand that close to you for long enough to notice them."

"You cheeky brat, if you weren't pregnant I'd tell you to run, though now it would probably be more like waddle for your life."

"I do not waddle!" Harry denied furiously.

"Every pregnant Omega waddles." Tony replied.

"How would you know? You can't stand to be around any Omega for more than a minute, let alone a pregnant one."

"Only because I'm terrified that my virility will get them pregnant and I'll be forced to bear the shame of having a waddling Omega on my arm."

Harry made an angry sound in the back of his throat, but he was saved from answering when Clint touched his belly, reminding him that the doctor had told him to ease down on the stress and the anger, not easy when you lived in close confines with Tony Stark.

"Harry doesn't waddle." Clint defended calmly. "And when he gets big enough with my child that he does waddle, I'd be proud to have him on my arm as my Omega. That's why only Omega whores who are after your money want you Tony, because the intelligent, self-respecting ones like Harry don't want you as the Father to their children."

"I think that's more than enough." Steve cut in. "We're a team and you have to stop hurting one another!"

Steve stood and ruffled Harry's hair, before taking Tony's arm and leading him away, probably to have a pep talk with him, Harry didn't care, he was angry. He did not waddle!

Clint reclined sideways on the settee, so he could wrap an arm around Harry and place a hand on the small bulge under his shirt. It was possessive, but Harry allowed it. Clint had stuck up for him after all.

"Thank you for saying what you did." He said almost shyly, nearly blushing as he turned to find Clint's face right next to his own.

"I meant every word. Anyone would be proud to have you as their Omega Harry, how could they not?"

Harry didn't know what to say to that, but he longed to break eye contact with Clint, but he was no coward and he carried on staring into those blue eyes. He wondered if his baby would have those same summer sky coloured eyes.

Clint bent forward a bit more and the movement and the thought of his baby having Clint's eyes together sent Harry reeling backwards. He and Clint shared a startled look, before Harry was up and running to his bedroom, not bothering with the lift but barrelling down the stairs. He didn't stop until he had made it to his safe haven where he slammed the door shut behind him and bolted it quickly.

He slid down the door and clenched bloodless fingers into his messy hair. What the hell had just happened? Had Clint really tried to kiss him back there? Why? What the hell was going on, surely Clint didn't have any sorts of feelings for him, that was absurd! Was it just a reaction to their closeness, or maybe it was even a reaction to seeing him with the baby inside of him, knowing that it was his baby, that had made him act as he had.

Harry breathed deeply, trying to recover from the shock of what had happened and the mad dash down the stairs and to his room, especially with his bad leg. He didn't understand, he didn't think he wanted to, he and Clint had been getting better, but that one wrong move threatened to undo everything that had been slowly and painstakingly gained over the last four months. What had happened and what the fuck had Clint been thinking?

* * *

After their talk together about confidence and issues and the boundaries of teasing pregnant, hormonal Omegas, Steve and Tony went back to the living room, bumping into Bruce on the way, who was going for a tea break.

They found Clint on the same settee, but with his face buried in his hands and his head and upper body bent over his knees. Harry wasn't anywhere in sight.

"What did you do?" Tony asked with a knowing look.

Clint just shook his head.

"I'm waiting for the inevitable announcement from Jarvis to say that Harry's trying to leave." He answered before anyone could say anything more.

"Fuck, what _did_ you do?" Tony asked more seriously at hearing that.

"Clint!" Steve pulled out his most authoritative voice when the silence stretched on and it became apparent that Clint was not going to answer Tony.

"I got caught up, he was letting me closer and closer, he lets me touch the baby when I want to, lets me hold and touch him…I…I tried to kiss him. He looked so beautiful, his eyes drew me in and I tried to kiss him. He panicked and bolted, probably back to his room to pack his stuff."

Bruce sighed. "I'll go and talk to him." With that he turned and left them, going to the lift and going down a floor to speak to Harry, to try and convince him not to leave and that he was safe here, even with Clint.

"What were you thinking?" Tony asked. "In his mind you violated him, to just up and kiss him out of the blue, it's no wonder he scarpered."

"I know!" Clint said angrily, raising his voice just a touch. "I wasn't thinking any of that, just how handsome and beautiful he looked, the weight of our child between us under my hand. I fooled myself into think he was mine, just for a moment I forgot, and I just tried to kiss him."

"It wasn't just a kiss to him Clint." Steve said as gently as he could, even as the Alpha in him chomped at the bit to go and assure himself that Harry truly was alright and was still in his care.

"I know!" Clint said even angrier and louder. "I know Steve. I've ruined everything, I know. Just…just leave me alone."

Clint got up and he went to leave.

"Where are you going?" Tony called out.

"To the range, I need to work out this anger before I can apologise to Harry, if he'll even stand to be near me anymore that is."

"Harry's very forgiving." Steve said softly.

"He already forgave me the first time. I can't ask him to forgive me a second time." Clint murmured sadly, before leaving to collect his bow and he hoped for a few uninterrupted hours on the range before Natasha found out, she was having her own problems with Harry, mostly because she just didn't understand him or his mentality and Harry didn't understand hers, but she was still wicked protective of him and she'd have his arse for this, he just hoped Harry calmed down before Pepper got home or he'd be rotting in his grave before the day was over.

* * *

Bruce knocked on Harry's door and received no answer. He tried the handle, just to see if Harry was actually inside, to find it bolted from the inside. He sighed.

"Harry, it's Bruce. I just want to know if you're okay." He said clearly. "Do you need someone to talk to? I swear I don't mind if you do. I want to make sure you're alright."

No one answered and Bruce settled himself ready to continue talking, he knew Harry was inside; he wouldn't likely be sleeping after what had just happened, so he'd be awake and listening to him and Bruce took in a deep breath ready to talk to him through the door if he had to.

He was surprised when he heard something scrape across the door, like someone had stood up and the deadbolt slid across and the door opened. Harry had been sat on the floor in front of it, that wasn't a good sign to begin with.

"You can come in." Harry invited quietly and Bruce did as he was asked and stepped into Harry's room, only it still looked like a guest room and Harry was still living out of a suitcase and a carry all bag, the only things he had left now after the explosion, his mind supplied sadly.

Harry sat on the bed and offered the same for Bruce, who took him up on it; thankful that at least Harry still trusted him and would allow him to come near him.

"How are you?"

"Shocked mostly." Harry replied and he really did look like it. He was pale and his eyes were slightly too wide, though that wasn't really a good indicator as Harry was naturally pale and his eyes were naturally wide and large, but Bruce looked at him more critically and noticed that he looked paler than normal and slightly clammy and his eyes looked a lot larger than usual and almost glassy.

"Understandable after what he did." Bruce nodded, purposefully not mentioning Clint's name, he doubted Harry would react well to it at the moment.

"Why did he do it Bruce? What purpose did it serve?"

"I really don't know Harry."

"Would it have been his Alpha instincts? Because of the baby?"

"I've never been in this position before Harry, I really couldn't say. I've never had much contact with any Omegas, least of all pregnant ones; it's too dangerous with the Hulk."

"You're not dangerous Bruce." Harry told him softly.

The irony did not pass Bruce by; he had come down here to comfort Harry, only to end up being comforted himself. He smiled wryly.

"The Hulk is dangerous."

"I bet he's a big softie inside just like you." Harry teased.

Bruce chuckled and wrapped an arm around Harry, waiting for Harry to flinch or shove him away, but Harry cuddled in closer, like he was affection starved. From what he had heard so far about Harry's life, he likely was. It seemed it was only Clint that made Harry flinch and recoil, not all Alphas.

"You're not going to run away are you?" Bruce asked worriedly.

Harry looked up at him startled and he shook his head. "No. I have nowhere to run to anymore. My house was blown up remember?"

Bruce's arm tightened around Harry. "I remember, S.H.I.E.L.D is actively working on it and they're looking for the man you described. We'll find who did this Harry; it's only a matter of time."

"Why are they trying to kill me now Bruce? The last I knew, they wanted me alive."

Bruce looked away uncomfortably.

"Tell me." Harry said firmly.

Bruce sighed. "It's speculation, that's all we have."

"I'll take that over nothing, I do not like being kept in the dark about matters that concern my own life and I doubt you'd like it if you were in my position, so tell me."

"You didn't break Harry, they couldn't get the information they wanted from you, no matter what they did. They used some of the most horrific techniques imaginable, for you, an Omega no less, to stand up to that and still not break, they obviously don't think they'll be able to ever break you before you tell them what they want to know, so now they want to…dispose of you." Bruce told him, tripping over the word 'dispose' Harry was a human being; no person should be disposed of like a piece of rotten meat or mere trash.

"But I'm no threat to them, why do they want to kill me?" Harry asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D thinks you know more than you've told." Bruce said and Harry reared back, his mind going double quick, flicking through painful memories for anything that was worth killing over. "Of course we, The Avengers, don't think you do."

Harry smiled at him and something in his shoulders relaxed.

"Why do you, The Avengers, think they want me dead?"

"I think Natasha hit the nail on the head. They want you dead because they couldn't break you, she thinks it would be a prideful thing, that all the people in that building died, but you, an Omega, survived through the torture without breaking and are still living. She believes that the people who had you were not working alone, that they were part of a…corporation for lack of a better word, and the people in the building with you, trying to extract the information they needed from you, were only a small part of that corporation."

Something flashed in his mind and Harry cocked his head as he explored it, combing through the memory that had been flagged up by what Bruce had said.

"You've thought of something."

Harry nodded. "Give me a minute. It's coming to me."

Several minutes passed in silence before Harry looked at him.

"The tormentor, he mentioned that his bosses weren't happy with him because he couldn't break me, said they'd have to step it up."

Bruce swallowed. "Have you only just remembered this?"

Harry nodded. "They started using the salt. I was hallucinating, talking to myself at this point, I was so tired, so hungry, so thirsty, then they used the salt and everything was pain. I didn't mean to forget."

Bruce squeezed him and pulled back. "That's more than alright Harry; we don't expect you to remember absolutely every detail."

"You need to tell Director Fury."

Bruce nodded and stood up, picking up on the dismissal. If Harry needed space, he'd give it to him.

"Get some more sleep Harry; it doesn't do to dwell on it." Bruce said before he left the room, leaving Harry in peace.

* * *

Halloween wasn't going well. In all the excitement with Clint, Harry had forgotten to get his supplies when he had the chance, so after an entire night and early morning thinking, he had fallen asleep, only to wake up in the midst of a full blown party, starving. Who started a party at half five in the evening anyway?! Tony Stark obviously, always the exception to everything, even decent party times.

Harry had no choice but to brave the party to get food and he wished he hadn't had to. There wasn't a single other Omega, he was the only one. Most of the people here were Betas, but there were a few Alphas, some of whom trailed him as he fought his way to the kitchen to get food.

"Stark has never had an Omega at his parties before." One Alpha said with a grin. "I've been telling him for years to bring a few in for entertainment."

"I am not the entertainment!" Harry hissed grumpily, he was not pleased to have to come out of his room at all, but to actually run into Alpha dicks was only making his mood turn ever more sour.

"You'll be our entertainment." Another one said, this one taller with brown eyes.

"No, I won't." Harry said firmly, glaring at them.

"Oh come on, why do you Omegas have to put up a front, you're all sluts and whores as soon as your heat comes around. You'll all spread your legs for whoever is around, for whoever wants you, why pretend otherwise?"

"I have never spread my legs for anyone!" Harry shouted.

"That baby inside of you says otherwise." The first Alpha said. "Did you get on the wrong side of an Alpha; I bet he put you right in your place."

Harry glared at him. "Actually no, I put him in his place and he hasn't touched me since."

"Then he's a weak assed fuck and doesn't deserve to be an Alpha, letting a little thing like you dictate to him, you're too weak to do anything, I bet if I pushed you'd just give in and spread your legs, every Omega does in the end."

Harry was so angry that he actually regretted leaving his wand in his room, Statute of Secrecy be damned! But when that filth actually approached him, intent on pushing him to see if he was right and completely humiliating him in the process, instinct took over and Harry kicked out with a bare foot and got the bastard right in the sternum.

Not expecting it, or the force of the kick, the Alpha went down gasping, leaving Harry to glare at his friend.

"Are you going to try as well?" Harry hissed. "I'm four months pregnant and I can take you losers out, I only wish I was in full health so I could batter you both into the nearest hospital."

"You little bitch!"

"That's Mister Bitch to you fucker." Harry snapped.

The Alpha leapt at him and Harry was taken off guard, but not by much. The Alpha got a hold of him, but not a good hold and Harry smashed an elbow into his nose, feeling the crunch of bone.

The scent of blood enraged the Alpha and Harry swallowed as his friend caught his breath and stood up.

Thankfully Harry didn't have to fight for himself, because Jarvis had informed the Avengers of what was happening and they came running to see him caught between two Alphas, both intent of trying to capture him and pin him, their intent obvious.

Harry drove his elbow back into the bastard's nose again and caught an eye instead and the Alpha let go howling, leaving Harry to spin around and knee the other one between the legs. A fellow man he may have been, but he wasn't going to miss an advantage when it was presented to him. Not when they were the ones attacking him.

Steve was there then, the look on his face was beyond furious and Harry was tugged into Clint's arms with a soft 'oof'. He squirmed but Clint didn't put him down.

"Put me down now!" Harry demanded furiously.

Bruce took Harry from Clint, a green hint in his eyes as he glared at Clint, who snarled at having Harry taken from him.

"I am not a pathetic little woman." Harry ground out to Clint. "I don't need…I don't want you to protect me! Just leave me alone!"

"I didn't think you were coming down." Tony said, his large brown eyes imploring. "I would have kicked them out otherwise, I swear. I didn't think you'd come up here."

"I wasn't planning on it, but I got hungry and I couldn't wait any longer." Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair thoroughly aggravated.

"I thought you were going to get food into your room?" Steve asked, two unconscious men in one hand by their shirt collars.

"I had more trouble to deal with yesterday." Harry said, glaring at Clint. "I forgot to get it in."

"Is the baby alright?" Natasha asked.

Harry placed a palm on his belly and felt around. "Baby seems okay as far as I can tell. I didn't do much before you arrive and I only kicked once."

"Maybe we should get you checked out just in case." Steve said worriedly.

"Just get those fuckers out and let me eat and I'll be fine." Harry groused, accepting the food from Bruce when it was handed to him. His stomach growled loudly enough for them to hear it. "You see? My baby is wasting away!"

Tony smiled and came and sat by him, watching him eat.

"Go back to your party, you sitting there, watching makes me feel creeped out."

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Tony said softly, pulling him into a man hug, before getting up and leaving back to his Halloween party. Harry wondered why no one was in fancy dress if it was a Halloween party, but he didn't care. It was Tony's party; he could have any dress code he wanted, Harry didn't want to know the reasons why.

Slowly the others trickled out after Harry practically shouted at them to get out, all but Clint, who stayed standing at the opposite end of the kitchen.

"I meant everyone Clint." Harry all but growled.

"I wanted to say I was sorry, for yesterday. I never meant…I mean I did, but I lost my self for a moment. I didn't want to hurt or scare you."

"So you wanted to kiss me, but you forgot that we weren't mated, how do you forget something like that? I thought we were getting better, a bit closer, but in my mind, we weren't close enough for kissing Clint. You made a grave error in judgement if you thought I would be that easy."

"I don't think you're easy!" Clint burst out. "You the most stubborn, strong, hard headed, wonderful and absolutely amazing Omega I've ever met!"

Harry was shocked at that and Clint was breathing heavily, Harry doubted the he knew exactly what he had just said and that made it all the more real to Harry, that it hadn't been a pre-meditated speech and that it was what Clint actually thought.

Everything was confusing and Harry rubbed his forehead firmly. He accepted that Clint hadn't meant to do what he had done, that he hadn't meant to get him with a child while he was still in captivity, it had been a circumstantial accident, Clint had saved him from staying in that place, being tortured further, but the kiss, it had been too much, he was frightened and he hated being frightened, it took him back to being with his captors and even further back than that, to being with the Dursleys.

"Clint please, just don't. You're pushing me too hard. I can't deal with it. I'm trying, really hard too, but you need to try just as hard. Pushing and throwing yourself at me aren't going to help the situation. I need time and you aren't making it easier for me to forget."

"You're never going to forget." Clint said miserably.

"No, no I'm not, but with time the pain I associate with it won't be as raw, which will make it easier, you continually pushing at me just makes the memories all the more worse Clint, I'm sorry, but that's the truth. I've been really good, tried really hard to get along with you, to let you be involved with the baby and stuff, I've really had to force myself sometimes to give you an inch, but you can't take a mile from me. It hurts too much, you need to slow down and just stop."

Clint nodded at having it laid out like that. He felt like a fool and he breathed deeply. He nodded once again.

"Okay, I can do that, I swear. Just believe that I never meant to hurt you."

"I do believe that Clint, for both times, but you need to know that I am trying, you're just not giving me enough time or leeway to move on."

"You want to move on?" Clint asked hopefully.

"I want it more than anything." Harry said seriously, his eyes showing how determined he was. "I want to move on from this, to get on with my life with my baby, it's all I want, but it's hard to stay on top sometimes and these setbacks aren't helping me Clint, please help me by being more respectful of my space, I don't mind you talking about or to the baby or touching the baby through my belly, but stop pushing at me, I can't handle it yet, I'm a mess Clint and I need help and support, not everyone pushing and pulling and making everything worse. I can't do it on my own. I want to move on, but I don't know how."

Clint swallowed painfully. "I'll do anything I can to help you Harry, just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

"Just help me move on Clint. Just give the space and time I need to move on, please."

Clint nodded his head understandingly. He knew now what he had to do, he was good at following orders and if it made Harry feel just the slightest bit better, he'd do it. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he might have been falling in love with the feisty, but vulnerable Omega, but he had never been in love before, and the only family he had had, had either died on him, or betrayed him.

He wanted to try and have something with Harry, and not just because he was carrying his baby, but he realised now that pushing those feelings onto Harry was making everything a thousand times worse.

It seemed strange, but the only way to get closer to Harry, was to back off and give him space. He could do that, he _would_ do that, no matter how hard or painful it became, Harry of all people deserved it.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, it's been too long since the last update, there's no need to tell me, I already know. But between Rise of the Drackens, The Scaled Bits, Lycanthrope Factory, finishing off What Life is All About and my real life, this fic has been on a forced back burner and there was nothing that could be done about it.

I had a twinge recently to write for it again, so I did. I do not force myself to write any chapters, so it's a complete guess when the next chapter may be out for any of my fics unless they are already written, which this one isn't, so I am sorry, but Rise of the Drackens is my priority fic, this one isn't, so the majority of my focus does go into my priority fic, but when that one is done and finished, this one can move up, though there aren't a lot of chapters left for it, it's still not priority and I have no idea when the next chapter will be, so make the most of it.

Thanks to **musme** for being the **700****th**** reviewer** for this fic.

**CarribbeanTrinidadian**: I have no idea where you heard that magical babies start showing signs of magic in the womb, but I have never heard anything like it. Imagine the poor parents of Muggleborns? Harry is not as powerful as you seem to believe as I am keeping him closer to book canon and he is not the Master of Death, he never was and never will be, that term has not even entered into my story, so I don't know where you got that from either.

**michelle**: I have no idea where you heard that people cannot live for more than three days without sleep, but I assure you it's wrong or I'd be as dead as a doornail myself. I did my research very thoroughly about the effects of sleep deprivation on humans through all the stages as well as I could to get an accurate as possible likeness in the story and the unofficial record for how long someone has gone without sleep is 85 days. So I suggest you do your own research instead of claiming, wrongly, that I haven't done mine.

Thank you to all of you who are still reading this story, I know I've been terrible lately with the sporadic updates, but please believe that I'm trying, I am, but I have too much to do, too many fics to keep up with and not enough free time to dedicate to them all, so please bear with me a little longer, this story will be over soon,

StarLight Massacre. X


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